Aleksandr Lukashenko signs a number of official documents

On 29 November President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko signed a number of official documents, including Ordinance No. 6 “Concerning the improvement of the court system of the Republic of Belarus”, Decree No. 529 “Concerning the operation of courts in the Republic of Belarus” and Decree No. 530 “Concerning measures to improve the execution of legal provisions and other executive documents”. The documents are aimed at improving the operation of courts and judicial bodies.

In line with the official documents signed by the head of state, on 1 January 2014 general jurisdiction and economic courts will be merged into a unified network of general jurisdiction courts. The system will be headed by the supreme judicial body for civil, criminal, administrative and economic cases – the Supreme Court. Apart from that, economic courts of regions and the city of Minsk will be renamed and will function as courts with a corresponding specialization.

Given the merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court, there are plans to set up common bodies of the court community. The Supreme Court, its plenary assembly and presidium will take the responsibilities of the Supreme Economic Court and its relevant branches.

The Supreme Court will be responsible for the organizational support and the personnel policy of general jurisdiction courts.

The merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court will help eliminate difficulties in determining the jurisdiction of court cases, create an effective and well-balanced system of specialized courts, unify the procedural legislation.

The next stage in the reformation of the court system will be the abolishment of the Supreme Court’s Military Collegium and military courts, their qualification collegium and conferences.

The functions of the Belarusian Military Court will be performed by oblast (Minsk city) and district (town) courts of general jurisdiction.

Thanks to these changes, the same approaches will be applied to civilians and the military.