News & Events in Belarus
Lukashenko receives report from prosecutor general
MINSK, 17 July (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has received a report from Prosecutor General Andrei Shved, BelTA has learned.
At the beginning of the meeting, the head of state briefly listed the key issues he wanted to raise with the prosecutor general. Among them was control over the compliance with the rule of law in the military and law enforcement agencies, approaches to making this work effective. Another topic was the ongoing investigation into the genocide of the Belarusian people. Aleksandr Lukashenko also focused on the role of the Prosecutor General’s Office in overseeing and identifying problems in agriculture and industry.
“I would like to discuss with you these three blocks of issues,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Establishment of a system of military prosecutors
“This is not the first time that I have raised the issue of control, prosecutorial supervision in the Armed Forces, compliance with laws and so on. What is the state of things today?” the Belarusian leader asked. “A great number of proposals are coming, including proposals to create some system of military prosecutors. I am saying ‘some system’ because we are not planning to return to that Soviet practice. But we should have some elements of it,” the president said.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there are many points of view on this issue. He asked about the rationale behind Andrei Shved’s position. “I know your position, but what are the reasons behind it? Indeed, we do need to strengthen control over compliance with the law among the military. I have already told you that the prosecutor’s office had somewhat moved away from the power bloc some time ago”, the president said.
The head of state noted that it is not only about the army, because uniformed services include many other agencies, like the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Committee. “Prosecutors should keep an eye on everything,” the Belarusian leader is sure.
Prosecutor General Andrei Shved told journalists that the proposal to establish the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office “was prompted by a number of objective circumstances, including the developments around our country”. Aleksandr Lukashenko studied these proposals and gave an instruction to discuss them with the leadership of law enforcement and other government agencies. The final decision on the establishment of the new institution will be made only after another meeting with the head of state.
Andrei Shved explained to the journalists that this initiative does not mean the return to the previous practices. He recalled that the Belarusian military prosecutor’s office was disbanded in 2014, when the situation in the world was completely different, including the military situation. “This is not about recreating what we used to have, but about creating the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, the staff of which will be several times smaller than that of the Belarusian Military Prosecutor’s Office. The thing is that if such a decision is made, military prosecutors will exclusively supervise the compliance with the rule of law in the military at various periods of time. The final decision will be made only after another meeting with the head of state,” the prosecutor general said.
Genocide investigation
“The second point is the genocide. A number of proposals have been made to raise awareness of the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War in our society, especially among young people. Young people should know what happened. Why? To prevent it from happening again,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko asked how this work is being done at the moment and what is to be undertaken in the future.
“The intensity of investigative actions is not dwindling. By now, we have identified more than 2,500 new destroyed settlements that we did not know about before. At least 80 of them shared the fate of Khatyn,” the prosecutor general said unveiling the details to the reporters.
When investigating the genocide case, 17,000 witnesses have been interviewed, and a lot of work has been done to perpetuate the memory of the war victims.
“We are doing a lot of outreach with young people. It is extremely important to communicate the outcomes of the genocide investigation, the truth about the genocide to every citizen of our country, especially our children,” Andrei Shved said. In this regard, the information on the outcomes of the investigation will be incorporated into the educational process and ideological work. Instructions were given to prepare the necessary materials that should be introduced into academic curricula of every school starting from 1 September. “This task will be fulfilled,” Andrei Shved emphasized.
Key economic matters
The third topic of the report was also important, the head of state stressed. “Instructions related to key economic matters have been given to the prosecutor general. As far as agriculture is concerned, the major issues here are livestock loss and problems related to salary payments. Don’t take your eye off the ball,” the president noted.
In the same vein, the prosecution authorities should counter and prevent manifestations of corruption. “This is commonplace, first of all, for the industrial sector. How are things in this regard in Gomel Oblast? There were many complaints some time ago. How is the new governor coping with these issues?” the Belarusian leader asked.
According to Andrei Shved, the intensity of checks and inspections by law enforcement will not decrease: there are still a lot of problems in the agricultural sector, and this is not only mismanagement.
“Violations of the land reclamation law have been revealed, 14 criminal cases have been initiated. It has been established that money is stolen in almost all regions. According to the preliminary results, the amount of stolen money is Br800,000 at the minimum. In addition to that, about 1,500 hectares slated for land reclamation are still not used for agricultural purposes, although more than Br9 million was invested in their reclamation,” he noted.
Andrei Shved warned that prosecutors are determined to make sure that all crimes will be investigated. “Do everything necessary to work in compliance with the law,” he said addressing heads of agricultural companies.
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