Report of Belarus’ Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk

    Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out an extended report from Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk on 23 August. The report covered the crime control situation and the performance of the prosecution service.

    Representatives of other power-wielding agencies, top officials of the Belarus President Administration and the State Secretariat of the Security Council were also present during the meeting.

    According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the extended report was necessitated by the recent profound reform of the Belarusian law enforcement system. “I am interested in how the prosecution service has been working since then. I would like to learn how effectively the prosecution service operates in new conditions after the reform and the structural changes,” said the President.

    After the report Alexander Konyuk told media that oversight efforts of the prosecution service tend to increasingly focus on economic affairs. “It causes certain difficulties, special skills are needed. The President appreciated the state of affairs in the prosecution service on the whole, yet some drawbacks need to be addressed,” stressed Alexander Konyuk.

    Apart from that, the meeting touched upon the crime control situation, some personnel matters, and preparations for the coordinating conference of prosecutors general of the CIS states that will take place in Minsk in early September. Speaking about the most important items on the agenda of the forum from Belarus’ point of view, the Prosecutor General mentioned the collection of overdue external accounts receivable.

    Meanwhile, the crime situation has not virtually changed in comparison with last year’s. As a positive thing Alexander Konyuk mentioned the lower number of murders. On the whole, the number of crimes in Belarus has been falling for the last five years.