Considerable decrease in crime rate in Belarus in Q1 2013

MINSK, 29 April (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko heard out a report from Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk on 29 April, the press service of the Belarusian leader told BelTA.

The head of state was informed about the crime situation in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko remarked that despite the overall reduction of the crime rate repeated crimes and domestic crimes are still a problem.

The President also said he wanted pressure kept in the fight against corruption manifestations. “I would like you to pay more attention to this issue. I’ve already said that we should take a closer look at corruption-related legislation. Something may be lacking in accordance with the practice you encounter legislation-wise. We are ready to fix it in the near future. Instead of dropping it off the agenda it is necessary to pay more and more attention to it,” stressed Alexander Lukashenko.

Alexander Konyuk said that in Q1 2013 the overall number of registered crimes dropped by 18% while the number of victims dropped by 23%. The number of repeated offenses and crimes among the underage is going down. Yet the number of grave crimes has increased a bit.

Efforts to detect corruption crimes have been stepped up as testified by concrete facts and criminal cases. Belarus’ experience in this field is in demand in other countries, too.

The re-organization of prosecution bodies in line with the relevant presidential decree was also mentioned at the meeting. In particular, district prosecutor offices are being merged in Brest, Grodno, Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Bobruisk. The prosecutor offices of Orsha District and the town of Orsha, Polotsk District and the town of Polotsk, Pinsk District and the town of Pinsk as well as Baranovichi District and the town of Baranovichi are being merged. These efforts are aimed at saving state budget money and optimizing the structure and personnel numbers of relevant prosecutor offices, including by means of reducing executive positions.

“We believe that it should contribute to better manageability of the prosecution system and better performance of the prosecution personnel,” noted the Prosecutor General. In his words, about 40 executive positions have been cut as a result of the measures.