Investigation Committee to greatly improve preliminary investigation in Belarus

MINSK, 8 August (BelTA) – The Investigation Committee of Belarus will advance preliminary investigation to a brand new quality level, Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Valery Mitskevich told the BT TV Channel, BelTA has learnt.

On 1 January 2012 the Investigation Committee will become operational. The committee will report directly to the President of Belarus. “Unfortunately, there have been a great many violations by investigators and preliminary investigation agencies recently, this can break people’s lives,” Valery Mitskevich said. In his words, in H1 2011, 151 verdicts of not guilty were delivered or criminal cases were dropped because of exculpatory evidence. “This means that the investigation team had done a bad job; more than that, the practice has showed that two thirds of not-guilty verdicts were made because of flaws during preliminary investigation,” Valery Mitskevich said.

The establishment of the Investigation Committee will help rectify the situation. “If we withdraw investigation from the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Interior Ministry, the financial investigations department, the State Security Committee KGB (we are still not sure about the KGB, though), it means the new committee will be an independent body where the central role will be played by an investigator,” Valery Mitskevich said. He believes that if an investigator has a greater responsibility, he will demand quality materials, data, evidence and he will reject what does not comply with the legislation. His work will be supervised by the public prosecutor’s office to make sure the law is observed during preliminary investigation. “This will be a totally separate organization, and the public prosecutor will not be bound by any subordination ties, therefore, his stance will be more objective. All this altogether will advance the preliminary investigation on a brand new quality level,” Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Valery Mitskevich said.

The Investigation Committee will embrace world’s best practices, first of all, that of the FBI and Russia’s Investigation Committee. The Belarus Investigation Committee project was upheld by the Interior Ministry, the financial police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, lawyers and judges.

Talking about the funds for the new committee, head of the chief bureau for procedural control of the Interior Ministry Nikodim Germanovich said, “I think the funds allocated for investigation departments, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the State Security Committee, the financial investigations department and the Interior Ministry will be enough to materialize the project. I do not see any preconditions for signification operation failures of the new organization. I think most of investigators supported the idea, they were mulling over it for a long time and are ready to serve the country with respect to law and order”.

The single Investigation Committee will considerably simplify the work of lawyers and judges, in particular, when it comes to additional forensic examinations. “In H1 this year we had to order over 400 forensic examinations to get a better idea of the circumstances of crimes,” First Deputy Head of the Supreme Court Alexander Fedortsov said. “The low quality of investigations is attributed to the fact that one agency combines multiple responsibilities, including investigation, public order and crime detection”, he said.

The Investigation Committee is expected to dramatically enhance the procedural independence of investigators who will be able to focus on their major function, that is crime investigation. The new organization has also other advantages, after all, restructuring is not the goal, but a means of improving the quality of investigation.