Aleksandr Lukashenko meets with Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out a report from Prosecutor General of Belarus Alexander Konyuk. The Prosecutor General informed the President of Belarus about the crime situation in the country in January-September 2012.

As a positive thing Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out the decline in the total number of registered crimes — nearly 21% down from January-September 2011. “There can be some things to polish yet but 21% is a lot. Among the things one cannot lie about is the number of grave crimes that has been reduced by nearly 12%,” the head of state stressed.

The statistics indicates that the juvenile crime rate dropped by over 11%. The number of repeated offences dropped by about 15%. The number of homicides went down by nearly 14%.

Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention of the Prosecutor General to some negative facts: “Crime rate detection has dropped by one percent but it still has. I am concerned about Minsk. The number of undisclosed grave crimes is rising”.

Speaking about the fight against corruption, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I am certainly glad that we are fighting and the number of corruption manifestations has been reduced (they are primarily related to bribery and abuse of office) but it looks to me that we could do a bit better regarding the solving of corruption crimes, particularly in Minsk,” the head of state stressed.

The President was interested in the interaction of prosecution bodies with the Investigation Committee: “I would like to hear your view. What is the situation over there? How does it affect the crime solving rate?”

Speaking about the reduction of the total number of registered crimes by over 20%, Alexander Konyuk explained that to a certain extent it had happened due to the decriminalization of several kinds of legally defined crime, which are now administrative offences. “At the same time there are some things that cannot be hushed up: the number of homicides, grave bodily injuries and robberies has been reduced. These facts cannot be rigged. It is real statistics. On the whole, the overall crime situation in the country is stable,” the Prosecutor General said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko gave instructions to raise the responsibility for driving a vehicle in a state of intoxication. Various measures are being discussed, including the possibility of confiscating the vehicles.

The meeting also touched upon the optimization of prosecution bodies. Alexander Konyuk said that he had already taken measures: “Some personnel of the central office have been fired. The open positions have been given to local-level district prosecution bodies. We prioritize Chernobyl-affected areas. I have already visited the districts and everything has been understood very well, people are working. It means that the step was a timely one”.