Chairman of the Investigation Committee Valery Vakulchik informed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko about the Committee’s performance in Q1 2012 on 9 April.

Alexander Lukashenko was informed about problems detected in the operation of the Investigation Committee as the united body in charge of preliminary investigations since the first day the Committee started operating, the organization of pre-trial proceedings for criminal cases.

The Investigation Committee has been formed and the body is now operating at full capacity. “The situation convinces me that we did not make an error to set up independent investigation teams in oblasts, interdistrict, district investigation units,” the head of state said. He pointed out the need to eradicate any formalism in the operation of investigation bodies.

According to Valery Vakulchik, the Committee fulfills all the tasks set by the head of state. The quality of investigation of criminal cases is improving. The possibility of unjustified criminal prosecution is being ruled out.

The official said that the quality of investigations is confirmed by the fact that in Q1 2012 the court pronounced no not-guilty verdicts for the criminal cases submitted by the Committee. “Yet we understand it is not a reason for self-complacence,” Valery Vakulchik said.

The Committee returned over 200 corruption cases to agencies in charge of preliminary investigation due to the lack of justification or due to insufficient evidence.

In Q1 2012 the number of the decisions made by investigators to start legal proceedings only to be rescinded by attorneys later was reduced by 2.5 times. Heads of investigation units and auditing units of the Investigation Committee did their best: 77 unjustified decisions to start legal proceedings were rescinded. As many petitions to stop legal proceedings on unjustified decisions were sent to attorneys.

According to the Investigation Committee, in Q1 2012 the overall crime level dropped in Belarus. The number of murders and grave crimes dropped by about a quarter. The number of armed assaults shrank by more than a third. Meanwhile, the number of burglaries went up a bit.

Alexander Lukashenko instructed the Investigation Committee to work together with the General Prosecutor Office to take exhaustive measures to enable quality registration of crimes and criminal cases in order to reflect the true state of affairs and improve crime control performance of law enforcement bodies.

Besides, the head of state demanded that all requirements of the criminal procedure legislation that regulate the investigation of criminal cases must be observed “so that people know and understand the Investigation Committee has been created to protect rights and interests of every citizen and the society as a whole”.