Report of Belarus’ Prosecutor General Andrei Shved

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko received a report of Prosecutor General Andrei Shved on 4 January.

“We planned to talk about certain issues, which we outlined earlier. You have been on this post for four months, which is equivalent to one year given the current Belarusian realities. I think you have your own opinion, have made certain conclusions. I would like to hear from you the assessment of those many cases, which were meant, according to our rivals and opponents, to paralyze the law enforcement system. Nothing got paralyzed. The law enforcement system works as it should,” the President noted.

The head of state noted that over time the situation regarding the fight against crime will be analyzed together with all law enforcement agencies. “Please think over how we do it. We need to carry out this comprehensive analysis and draw appropriate conclusions. We should look at the legislation. Now all countries are improving their laws. For example, the Russian Federation has revised the basic laws to beef up the defense and security of citizens," the President noted.

“As I predicted before the presidential election, the pandemic would be used by major players on the international stage to divide the world. From a purely medical problem, the pandemic has grown into not just an economic problem, but a geopolitical one. This was to be expected as it never was a medical problem. Nevertheless, we need to keep this in mind to stay afloat in the year ahead. 2021 will be a challenging year for Belarus and we need to do our best to stand firm and preserve our sovereignty,” stressed Aleksandr Lukashenko. He added that all the issues that have been planned for discussion during the meeting are related, one way or another, to politics.

Andrei Shved told the head of state that the crime situation has been and is under complete control of law enforcement agencies. Although more than 1,000 crimes were committed in the period of attempts of destabilization of the social situation, including grave crimes, the overall number of especially grave crimes dropped by 14% in 2020, with the number of grave crimes down by 27% and the number of domestic crimes down by 11%. Crime rate dropped virtually across the board, Andrei Shved stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko wondered how the crime situation changed considering the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Investigative Committee, and the Prosecutor General’s Office had to take care of stabilizing the situation inside the country in H2 2020. He said: “It certainly affected other areas of crime control efforts. Just like COVID-19. Everyone was hyped up about the virus. Certainly, it has to be treated, a difficult situation. But we shouldn’t forget about oncology, asthmas, and cardiovascular diseases. They have to be treated as well. And their pressure on the society is greater than COVID-19’s. The same is true for the crime control situation.”

The prosecutor general said that the situation has been and is under control for most of crime types. “But one negative trend has emerged: a considerable increase in crimes involving cyber fraud,” Andrei Shved said.

In his words, while the number of cyber fraud crimes slightly exceeded 10,000 in 2019, the figure rose past 25,000 in 2020. “Cyber fraudsters (most of them are foreign ones) rushed to deceive our citizens – gullible pensioners and other people – while the situation was a bit nervous, full of pressure, and law enforcement agencies had to suppress the destabilization of the social situation. This is why the number of cyber frauds increased,” the prosecutor general said.