Lukashenko convened meeting on the formation of military prosecutor’s offices
On November 2nd, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, convened a meeting on the formation of military prosecutor’s offices. Addressing the meeting participants, the Head of State noted that he would not characterise the situation in the world and on the borders of Belarus, since everyone knows it very well.
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that in 2014 a decision was made to liquidate the system of military prosecutor’s offices, “The powers to supervise the implementation of legislation in the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations of Belarus have been transferred to civilian prosecutors.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, because of the liquidation of military prosecutor’s offices, a logical question arises, “Has the situation changed now in the area where prosecutors must monitor the strict observance of our laws? Maybe. The question appears: has it changed so much that we now need to recreate the military prosecutor’s offices? This is probably one of the fundamental questions that we must answer today.”
The Belarusian Head of State underlined that in 2014, the decision to liquidate the system of military prosecutor’s offices was made under different conditions and was also aimed at reducing staff as part of the reform of the state apparatus, as well as at cutting budget expenditures.
“As an effective measure to solve the above-mentioned problems, the Prosecutor General proposed to establish the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office and inter-garrison military prosecutor’s offices. We need to decide on this issue,” the President said.
He also asked those present about the practice in other states, “An alternative opinion was also expressed about the advisability of creating such a system, but only in wartime conditions. It’s also a question. God forbid, a war has started, and we are quickly forming prosecutor’s offices. Can’t we do without this? Why is this issue primarily raised by prosecutors today? The main question is whether it is necessary nowadays to recreate the system of prosecutorial supervision that existed before 2014?”
Aleksandr Lukashenko asked the speakers for particular proposals, based solely on national tasks of ensuring national security.
Belarus’ Prosecutor General Andrei Shved reported at the meeting that the prosecutor’s office bodies are working to increase the efficiency of supervisory activities across all areas. A whole range of departmental initiatives have been implemented and are now generating results.
“In connection with the emerging military-political situation near our borders, we’ve analysed the organisation of supervision of the rule of law in troops abroad, including during military conflicts. All over the world, military prosecutors are an essential element of the national security system. Their functionality is widely used in all military conflicts,” Andrei Shved underlined.
