MOSCOW, May 31 (Itar-Tass World Service)
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika addressed regional governors at the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday with his annual report on law and order in the Russian Federation. The FC said the Prosecutor General's Office work had been satisfactory and recommended the government to consider giving broader powers to the PGO, a subject Chaika keeps raising at the FC each year.
The prosecutor general noted a 8.9 percent decrease in the crime rate, as well as a decrease by one million in the crimes registered in 2011, the Kommersant writes. He routinely stated that prosecutors' powers were limited, which he said was the reason behind the growing crime rate at law-enforcement bodies. "We've had more than 18,000 signals about police violence; this implies only serious offenses, but just half of them has been checked. The Investigative Committee only opened 250 cases," Chaika said.
Last year, prosecutors overturned 500,000 actions scheduled without sound reasons, and 100,000 scheduled checks, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta writes. "I believe time has come to consider giving the prosecutors the right to coordinate the checks of businesses, including the checks conducted by detectives," the prosecutor general said, specifying that as a rule, it is the checks conducted by law-enforcement bodies that draw the largest number of complaints. Also, Chaika believes the prosecutors should be given back the right to open criminal cases and withdraw current case for further investigation by prosecutor's offices.
The BC ordered is committee on constitutional legislation and legal and judicial issues to analyze the report with the view of preparing an agreement on amending the legislation," the Kommersant reports. The FC members recommended the government to give more authority to the prosecutor’s office, by letting them open criminal cases over police violence and release detainees if the detention was carried out with violations of law, or if the 48-hour period of detention has expired. Also, the FC believes it is necessary to let the prosecutors handle the criminal cases over the crimes by the persons to whom special procedure applies. FC speaker Valentina Matviyenko called for a very cautions approach to expanding the authority of the prosecutor' office, so that the decision suited all.
The Moskovsky Komsomolets noted that Chaika dwelt on other problems. He criticized the U.S. interference in the Magnitsky case as "biased and absolutely incorrect." Chaika said he had stated it to his U.S. colleague Eric Holder. The issue of the extradition of Viktor Bout convicted in the USA should be initiated by the Russian Justice Ministry. In this event, the Americans will examine this issue, Chaika said.