Cities without prosecutors

The department of Vladimir Ustinov is preparing for a regular “shake-up”

The reform of the prosecutor's office system, which began at the beginning of the year with the liquidation of several divisions of this department and the creation of departments in federal districts, can be continued by the abolition of a significant part of prosecutor's offices in Russian cities. So far there are no orders in this regard, but the idea is already being actively discussed within the walls of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Moreover, according to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the innovation was initiated by the prosecutors of a number of regions themselves, dissatisfied with the work of the city link of the system and considering it simply unnecessary.

Vladimir Ustinov announced the reform of the prosecutor's office system in January of this year. Soon, the regional transport prosecutor's offices were abolished due to inefficiency (their functions were transferred to lower-level units) and the special prosecutor's offices at high-secrecy facilities. In return, seven directorates of the Prosecutor General's Office were created in federal districts. Recently, Vladimir Ustinov’s department, according to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, has seriously started thinking about the partial liquidation of city prosecutors’ offices. The topic was raised after criticism of city departments by a number of regional prosecutors. The essence of the claims is this: district prosecutor's offices located outside cities directly conduct business with the regional prosecutor's office, which significantly simplifies the work. In cities, district prosecutor's offices are first forced to coordinate everything with the “city”. And if in very large cities such a system justifies itself, then in smaller cities it does not. The situation with prosecutors' offices in megacities is expected to be considered separately in each case.

Meanwhile, local employees of the city prosecutor's offices are already worried. In Nizhny Novgorod, for example, they are actively discussing the possible liquidation of the city prosecutor's office. A source in this department told the Vremya Novostey newspaper that they are facing serious staff reductions. According to the heads of the Nizhny prosecutor's office, the disbandment is connected with judicial reform in the country. Currently, the city prosecutor's office employs 18 people, which is less than in some areas of the city. According to the source, the last time there was a conversation on this topic in prosecutorial circles in Nizhny Novgorod was after an inspection carried out in August by a commission of the General Prosecutor's Office. A month after the inspection, regional prosecutor Alexander Fedotov resigned. The Prosecutor General's Office believes that representatives of the Nizhny Prosecutor's Office simply raised a panic after personnel changes.

As Vladimir Ustinov’s department noted, no orders regarding the elimination of city prosecutors’ offices have yet been signed, and it is difficult to say when they will appear (if they appear at all). “From the point of view of optimizing the work of the prosecutorial system, such a decision would seem logical,” noted one of the senior employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office, “according to statistics, in 90% of trials, the prosecution is represented by employees of the district prosecutor’s offices. And at the expense of the employees of the city prosecutor’s office, the same district prosecutor’s offices can be strengthened.” Our interlocutors are confident that city prosecutor's offices will definitely remain in Moscow and St. Petersburg (considered subjects of the Russian Federation).

Former Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov, in a conversation with a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, said that until the general concept of judicial reform is determined, when all the functions of the prosecutor’s office are finally clarified, such changes do not make sense. “If the city prosecutor’s office is liquidated, the question will immediately arise: who will monitor the legality of acts adopted by city authorities and legislative assemblies,” Mr. Skuratov believes. In his opinion, abolition will not have the best effect on the coordination of the actions of district prosecutors' offices. According to the ex-prosecutor general, a certain staff of people should be provided for each region, and the prosecutors of the constituent entities, in coordination with local leadership, should decide how to more conveniently distribute employees.

Natalia REZONTOVA, Nizhny Novgorod, Alexander SHVAREV