Functions and areas of activity of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation

The purpose of the prosecutor's office in the system of state bodies, the division and interaction of powers is determined by the accuracy and completeness of the functions necessary to fulfill the tasks assigned to the prosecutor's office. The key legal category that reveals and explains the subject, structure, content and limits of the activities of the prosecutor’s office, like any other body, is its functions.

The Law on the Prosecutor's Office contains instructions on functions in a number of norms. Already in Art. 1, defining the concept of the prosecutor's office. The law reveals it through its main function - oversight of the implementation of laws. It is emphasized that “the prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation also performs other functions established by federal laws.” Another norm defines that “the prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation cannot be entrusted with performing functions not provided for by federal laws” (Article 3).

In paragraph 2 of Art. 1 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office contains essentially a list of the main functions of the prosecutor's office. However, it does not provide a general definition of the concept of function. Based on the general provisions of state legal theory, the concept of the function of the prosecutor's office can be formulated as a type of its activity that is predetermined by the social purpose of the prosecutor's office, expressed in its tasks, is characterized by a certain subject matter, is aimed at solving these problems and requires the use of its inherent powers and legal means their implementation. The named elements characterizing the function are in strict interdependence. Their change, clarification, primarily in terms of the tasks of the prosecutor's office, the areas of manifestation of its activities must inevitably entail adjustments in other parts of the functional characteristics. The most mobile and obvious component of each function is the powers of the prosecutor's office and the legal means of their implementation, which give it the required expression and logical completeness and which must have a clear legal form.

The most important condition for the effectiveness of the prosecutor's office is the completeness, internal interconnectedness and interdependence of functions. This interdependence stems from the unity of the tasks of ensuring law and order. The main function of the prosecutor's office is to oversee compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the implementation of laws. It is enshrined in Art. 1 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office. Depending on the areas of legal relations in which the prosecutor’s office operates (the spheres of administrative bodies, preliminary investigation bodies, penal authorities, etc.), the supervisory function is divided into subfunctions. Each of these subfunctions preserves all the structural parts of the function, filling them with different content. The most noticeable differences are in the features of the subject of supervision, in the procedures for its implementation, the scope and nature of the powers of prosecutors and the legal consequences of the use of corresponding legal means. These sub-functions include:

supervision over the implementation of laws by federal executive authorities, representative (legislative) and executive state authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies, military command and control bodies, control bodies, their officials, subjects of public control over the provision of human rights in places of forced detention and assistance persons in places of forced detention, as well as management bodies and heads of commercial and non-profit organizations and for compliance with the laws of the legal acts issued by them;
supervision over the implementation of laws by bodies carrying out operational investigative activities, inquiry and preliminary investigation;
supervision over the implementation of laws by bailiffs;
supervision over the implementation of laws by the administrations of bodies and institutions executing punishment and applying compulsory measures prescribed by the court, administrations of places of detention and detention;
supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms by the above-mentioned bodies and persons.

One of the essential characteristics of the prosecutor’s supervision is his activity in checking the implementation of laws, establishing offenses, their legal assessment and in the requirement (proposal) to the competent authorities and officials to take measures to eliminate the identified violations. In some areas of legal relations, due to their specificity, the prosecutor has the authority to directly restore the violated legality (cancel the illegal decision of the investigator, transfer the criminal case from one preliminary investigation body to another, etc.).

Supervisory subfunctions are closely related to each other and are in a systemic relationship and conditionality. Taken together, they constitute a single prosecutorial supervision carried out on behalf of Russia throughout its territory and in all areas of legal relations that are covered by the supervisory competence of prosecutors. Along with the general subject, each of the sectoral subfunctions of supervision has a relatively independent subject of jurisdiction or subject of supervision, which reflects the specifics of the activities of the prosecutor's office in the relevant area of legal relations. This circumstance is enshrined in the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, in which the relevant chapters highlight special rules that define the features of the subject of supervision in the implementation of relevant supervisory activities (Articles 21, 26, 29, 32).

In the field of legal proceedings, the subject of activity and the powers of the prosecutor participating in the judicial consideration of cases are determined by the relevant procedural legislation of the Russian Federation. The prosecutor participates in all types of legal proceedings and in all judicial instances. On the grounds and in the manner prescribed by the relevant procedural law, the task is to make submissions (complaints, protests) against decisions, sentences, rulings and rulings of courts that are contrary to the law. This reveals the specificity of the prosecutor’s activities in the field of legal proceedings. In this regard, it should be emphasized that prosecutors do not supervise the courts. In administering justice, the courts are independent and subject only to the law, the requirements of which must be met by judicial decisions.

The criminal prosecution of crimes carried out by the prosecutor's office has signs of an independent function. Its main content is the authority to verify the fulfillment of the requirements of the federal law when receiving, registering and resolving reports of crimes, to issue a reasoned resolution on sending the relevant materials to the investigative body or body of inquiry to resolve the issue of criminal prosecution based on the facts of violations of criminal law identified by the prosecutor and to demand from these authorities to eliminate violations committed by them. The prosecutor is authorized to give written instructions to the inquiry body on the direction of the investigation, the conduct of procedural actions, to withdraw any criminal case from the inquiry and preliminary investigation body, as well as to transfer a criminal case from one preliminary investigation body to another. Only the prosecutor approves the indictment (indictment) in a criminal case, and during the trial, he supports the state prosecution.

An independent function is the coordination by the prosecutor's office of the activities of law enforcement agencies to combat crime. It consists of ensuring coordinated interconnected activities of law enforcement agencies, carried out by each of them in accordance with the characteristics of their goals and objectives, powers and means of their implementation. Coordination pursues the goal of the most successful implementation of measures to identify, disclose, investigate crimes, take or recommend to the competent authorities measures to eliminate the circumstances that contributed to the commission of crimes. The subject of coordination is the streamlining and optimization of interaction between law enforcement agencies when they perform a common task, but carried out through the legal, organizational, information and other means, forms and methods inherent in each of these bodies. Coordination often allows us to achieve such cooperation, complementarity, addition of forces and means, which allows us to obtain results that are qualitatively new in their content and significance in the field of fighting crime.

Recently, there has been a tendency to define, by acts of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation, coordinators from among law enforcement agencies that unite the efforts of executive authorities to combat certain types of crimes in a specific area of legal relations (FSKN of Russia, FSB of Russia, customs, migration services, etc.) . Thus, to organize the fight against terrorism and extremist manifestations, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee was created with the coordinating role of the FSB of Russia. To combat the illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, the State Anti-Drug Committee was created under the chairmanship of the director of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia. Under these conditions, the importance of the coordinating role of the prosecutor’s office as a “coordinator of coordinators” increases. The coordination powers of prosecutors are strengthened by supervising the implementation by these bodies of legislation on the fulfillment of the duties assigned to them to coordinate activities in the sphere of public relations assigned to them.

Another independent, but closely related to the supervisory function of the prosecutor’s office is its participation in law-making activities. This function consists in the fact that the prosecutor, in the course of exercising his supervisory and other powers in order to improve existing normative legal acts, has the right to submit proposals on their acceptance, modification, addition or cancellation. Its purpose is predetermined by the fact that the nature of the tasks assigned to the prosecutor's office, the content of the activities of its bodies, the prevalence of prosecutorial supervision in almost all areas of relations regulated by legislative norms, objectively make the prosecutor's office widely aware not only of the implementation of laws, but also of the state of legal regulation. Such awareness of the prosecutor's office is in the interests of ensuring legal regulation in accordance with the needs of society and the state. It would be extremely wasteful for the state not to use the diverse information available to the prosecutor’s office about the shortcomings and needs of legal regulation, obtained primarily as a result of monitoring the implementation of laws. Prosecutors not only have the right, but are also obliged to make such proposals if their adoption will help strengthen the rule of law , development of public relations, protection of human and civil rights, i.e. fulfillment of the tasks of the prosecutor's office.

A specific form of participation of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation in law-making activities is the coordination and joint publication with other government bodies of normative acts in cases and in the manner determined by federal law. The approval form is used as a method of legal control over compliance with the requirements of the law of a given regulatory legal act or decision of an authorized body and taking measures to eliminate shortcomings in the project. Thus, according to the Federal Law of July 15, 1995 N 103-FZ “On the detention of suspects and accused of committing crimes,” these persons are kept in pre-trial detention centers and temporary detention centers. Convicts serving sentences in colonies and prisons, detained on suspicion of committing another crime, may be kept on their territory in isolation from convicts serving their sentences. The list of such prisons and correctional institutions is coordinated by the Minister of Justice with the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation (Article 10). Regulatory legal acts are also coordinated with the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in other cases provided for by federal laws.

An independent type of state activity of the prosecutor's office is the function of participation of a representative of the prosecutor's office in all types of legal proceedings established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in order to assist the relevant court in making a legal, informed, objective and fair decision. Taking into account the characteristics of specific types of legal proceedings (constitutional, administrative, civil, criminal), this task of the prosecutor does not change. However, the types of procedural regimes are changing, there is a significant specificity of the grounds for the participation and powers of prosecutors, the legal means of their implementation, which gives grounds to classify the participation of the prosecutor in each of the named types of proceedings as relatively independent functions of the prosecutor's office. Thus, during criminal proceedings, the prosecutor supports the state prosecution, ensuring its legality and validity.

In civil proceedings, the prosecutor, not having his own interests, but on behalf of the state, initiates or enters into an already begun process in the case in the role of a plaintiff with a “special” status in defense of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens, as well as in defense of an indefinite circle of persons and legal interests of Russia, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities.

In addition to functions, such a concept as “the main areas of activity of the prosecutor’s office (priorities)” is also used. These concepts are closely related, but clearly distinguished. The fact is that the prosecutor's office should not and cannot replace other state legal structures for ensuring the rule of law, and with equal intensity exercise supervision over the implementation of all laws, in all areas of legal relations. This is often not necessary. Here priorities must be correctly chosen, the provision of which decisively determines the state of law and order in the region, city, subject of the Russian Federation, and in the country as a whole. Such priority areas of activity of the prosecutor's office are the main ones. They are implemented with the help of the above-mentioned supervisory and other functions of the prosecutor's office in a priority order, and may constitute the main content of the activities of the prosecutor's office in certain periods. In different periods, depending on changes in the state, structure and dynamics of crimes and other offenses, such main areas are the fight against organized crime, terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, corruption, etc.

The constant priority of the supervisory and other functional activities of the prosecutor's office is to ensure compliance with the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. In a number of cases, priority in the activities of the prosecutor’s office directly follows from the requirements of the law (for example, the Federal Law “On Combating Corruption”), from direct instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, including those formulated in his annual messages, in other speeches and documents based on a deep, comprehensive analysis of the situation in the country. The priorities of the activities of the prosecutor's office are reflected in the organizational and administrative acts of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's offices of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the city prosecutor's office, and are specified in their activity plans.

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Legal status of the prosecutor's office, tasks, functions and powers of the prosecutor's office

Published: 08/02/2021

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In accordance with Art. 1 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, the prosecutor's office is a unified federal centralized system of bodies exercising, on behalf of the Russian Federation, supervision over compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the implementation of laws in force on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The peculiarity of its status is that the main goals of prosecutorial activity are to ensure the rule of law, unity and strengthening of the rule of law, protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as legally protected interests of society and the state. This indicates not only the importance of the prosecutor’s office for the state, society and the individual citizen, but also places increased demands on prosecutors, as well as on the legislation on the prosecutor’s office. This determines the constitutional settlement of the fundamentals of the status of the prosecutorial system of the Russian Federation.

This is confirmed by the fact that the President of the Russian Federation V.V. within the framework of the draft law of the Russian Federation on an amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation “On improving the regulation of certain issues of the organization of public power” submitted to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on January 20, 2020, attention is paid to the prosecutor’s office.

Currently, the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides for Article 129, which is found in Chapter 7 entitled “Judicial power and the prosecutor’s office.” Until 2014, this chapter was called “Judicial Power”.

Thus, the special independent status of the prosecutor’s office in the system of other state institutions is indicated, and the increased social significance of prosecutorial activities is noted.

Article 129 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation consists of five parts, which are devoted to the regulation of organizational issues primarily related to the appointment and dismissal of prosecutors in the status of heads of prosecutorial bodies.

Thus, in accordance with part two of this article, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and all his deputies are appointed to and dismissed from office by the Federation Council upon the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation.

Prosecutors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as defined by part three of this article, are appointed to the position by the President of the Russian Federation on the proposal of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, agreed with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The decision to dismiss these prosecutors is also made by the President.

Specialized prosecutors with the same status as prosecutors of constituent entities of the Russian Federation are appointed and dismissed by the President of the Russian Federation.

According to Part 5 of Article 129 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the appointment and dismissal of prosecutors of cities, districts and equivalent prosecutors is under the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

In addition, Part 1 of Article 129 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation stipulates that the powers, organization and procedure for the activities of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation are determined by federal law.

Attention should be paid to another important constitutional norm - this is paragraph “o” of Article 71, which establishes that the prosecutor’s office is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Russian Federation (that is, the federal center). Consequently, establishing the status of the prosecutor’s office and assigning its functions should be carried out precisely at the federal level.

These constitutional provisions are fully consistent with the legislative requirements established in Art. 3 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”, which provides that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation cannot be entrusted with performing functions not provided for by federal laws.

The main functions of prosecutors include: - supervision over the implementation of laws by federal executive authorities, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, representative (legislative) and executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies, military administration bodies, control bodies, their officials, subjects of public control over ensuring human rights in places of forced detention and assistance to persons in places of forced detention by management bodies and heads of commercial and non-profit organizations, as well as compliance with the laws of legal acts issued by them; – supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms by federal executive authorities, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, representative (legislative) and executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies, military administration bodies, control bodies, their officials, subjects of public control over ensuring human rights in places of forced detention and assistance to persons in places of forced detention, as well as management bodies and heads of commercial and non-profit organizations; – supervision over the implementation of laws by bodies carrying out operational investigative activities, inquiry and preliminary investigation; – supervision over the implementation of laws by bailiffs; – supervision over the implementation of laws by the administrations of bodies and institutions executing punishment and compulsory measures imposed by the court, by the administrations of places of detention of detainees and prisoners; – criminal prosecution in accordance with the powers established by the criminal procedural legislation of the Russian Federation; – coordination of the activities of law enforcement agencies to combat crime; – initiating cases of administrative offenses and conducting administrative investigations in accordance with the powers established by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and other federal laws; – participation in the consideration of cases by courts; – participation in law-making activities. By virtue of Art. 9 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, when establishing in the course of the exercise of his powers the need to improve existing normative legal acts, he has the right to submit to legislative bodies and bodies with the right of legislative initiative, at the corresponding and lower levels, proposals for changes, additions, repeals or adoption of laws and other regulatory legal acts. And also, in the course of exercising its powers, in the manner established by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia and according to the methodology determined by the Government of the Russian Federation, it conducts an anti-corruption examination of regulatory legal acts (Order of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia dated December 28, 2009 N 400 “On organizing an anti-corruption examination of regulatory legal acts”).

The prosecutor's office, in accordance with their powers, resolves statements, complaints and other requests containing information about violations of laws (Article 10 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office).

In the current Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation,” supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms is highlighted as an independent area of activity of the prosecutor’s office, which confirms the importance of its human rights role at the present stage of development of our country. The human rights potential of the prosecutor's office is manifested both in the diverse activities of monitoring the observance of constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen, and in the significant preventive focus of supervisory activities carried out in various spheres of life of the state and society.

The human rights function of the prosecutor's office generally manifests itself in the protection and restoration of violated human and civil rights and freedoms, in resolving appeals from citizens and organizations, receiving citizens, and protecting the rights of entrepreneurs.

The supervisory functions of the prosecutor's office include: supervision over the implementation of laws; supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms; supervision over the implementation of laws by bodies carrying out operational investigative activities, preliminary investigation and inquiry; supervision over the implementation of laws by bailiffs; supervision in the field of execution of criminal penalties.

The law-making function of the prosecutor's office includes the participation of prosecutors in meetings of federal legislative and executive bodies, representative (legislative) and executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies, the participation of the prosecutor's office in the law-making activities of state authorities and local government bodies, including through the implementation of the right of legislative (rule-making) initiative (Articles 7 and 9).

The coordination function is organizationally enshrined in Article 8 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office and consists of coordinating the activities of law enforcement agencies to combat crime and interdepartmental interaction.

Judicial functions are performed by the prosecutor's office when supporting the state prosecution in court, as well as in cases of mandatory participation of the prosecutor in criminal, civil, arbitration, and administrative proceedings (Section IV. Participation of the prosecutor in the consideration of cases by the courts).

The information and educational functions of the prosecutor's office are to implement the principle of transparency enshrined in paragraph 2 of Art. 4 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, and are implemented by informing state authorities, local governments, as well as the population about the state of the rule of law, speaking in the media, interacting with civil society institutions, carrying out work on legal education and clarification of legislation.

In addition, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, within its competence, performs international legal functions: it carries out direct communications with the relevant authorities of other states and international organizations, cooperates with them, enters into agreements on issues of legal assistance and the fight against crime, participates in the development of international treaties of the Russian Federation. Federation, in the extradition of criminals (Article 2).

Based on the provisions of paragraph 1 of Art. 11 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, scientific and educational organizations included in the prosecutor's office system (Academy of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, institutes and branches of the Academy) carry out the functions of training qualified legal personnel and scientific support of prosecutorial activities.

Thus, a distinctive feature of the legal status of the Russian prosecutor's office is the variety of forms of prosecutorial activity, mechanisms and methods of interaction with the highest bodies of state power, judicial bodies, local governments, international organizations and other subjects of legal relations, which determines the increasing role of the prosecutor's office in the implementation of the legal policy of the state , at the same time, the prosecutor's office ceases to be a criminal prosecution body (the existing powers in the criminal legal sphere are actually reduced to supervisory, coordination and judicial functions), which once again emphasizes the constitutional value and human rights nature of the activities of this state legal institution.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Nakhimovsky District of the City of Sevastopol S.A. informs. Surma

Article 41.7. Disciplinary responsibility

1. For non-fulfillment or improper performance by employees of their official duties and the commission of offenses that discredit the honor of a prosecutor, the heads of bodies and organizations of the prosecutor’s office have the right to impose the following disciplinary sanctions on them:

comment;

rebuke;

severe reprimand;

demotion in class rank;

deprivation of the badge “For impeccable service in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”;

deprivation of the badge “Honorary Worker of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”;

warning about incomplete professional compliance;

dismissal from the prosecutor's office.

2. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has the right to impose disciplinary sanctions on prosecutorial employees as provided for in paragraph 1 of this article, except for the cases established by paragraph 2.2 of this article.

The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation determines the powers of the relevant managers to bring to disciplinary liability employees appointed to the position by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

2.1. No longer in force on January 15, 2011. — Federal Law of December 28, 2010 N 404-FZ.

2.2. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has no right to impose disciplinary sanctions:

in the form of a reduction in class rank - for prosecutors who have been assigned a class rank by the President of the Russian Federation;

in the form of dismissal from the prosecutor's office - for deputy prosecutors general of the Russian Federation, as well as for prosecutorial employees appointed to the position by the President of the Russian Federation.

2.3. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation is obliged to inform the President of the Russian Federation about the imposition of a disciplinary sanction on the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation or a prosecutor appointed to the position by the President of the Russian Federation.

3. Prosecutors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, equivalent prosecutors and directors (rectors) of scientific and educational organizations of the prosecutor's office have the right to impose disciplinary sanctions on employees appointed by them to the position, with the exception of deprivation of the badge "Honorary Worker of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation."

4. Prosecutors of cities, districts, and prosecutors equivalent to them have the right to impose disciplinary sanctions in the form of a reprimand, reprimand, severe reprimand, as well as dismissal of employees appointed by them to the position.

5. The imposition of a disciplinary sanction in the form of dismissal from the prosecutor’s office of employees awarded the badge “Honored Worker of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation” can only be applied with the consent of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

6. A disciplinary sanction is imposed immediately after the discovery of the misconduct, but no later than one month from the date of its discovery, not counting the time the employee was ill or on vacation.

7. A disciplinary sanction cannot be imposed during an employee’s illness or while he is on vacation.

8. A disciplinary sanction cannot be imposed later than six months from the date of commission of the offense, and based on the results of an audit or inspection of financial and economic activities - two years from the date of its commission.

9. An employee who has committed an offense may be temporarily (but not more than one month) until the issue of imposing a disciplinary sanction is resolved, suspended from his position with pay retained.

Removal from office is carried out by order of the head of the body or organization of the prosecutor's office, who has the right to appoint an employee to the appropriate position. During the period of removal from office, the employee is paid a salary in the amount of his official salary, additional payments for class rank and length of service.

The concept of the powers of prosecutors, their specific characteristics

The concept of powers of prosecutors

To supervise the implementation of laws, the prosecutor's office must have appropriate powers.
In its semantic meaning, authority is granting someone the right to perform any action. These powers for prosecutors are specific: purely supervisory. Moreover, in accordance with the principle of unity, the implementation of prosecutorial supervision is incompatible with any other types of state and public activities. The specificity of the powers of the prosecutor's office is also predetermined by their nature: they are exercised on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The scope and nature of powers are not established arbitrarily by the legislator; the powers of state bodies are determined by the tasks assigned to them. It is the latter that actively influence the formation of the legal status of the prosecutor’s office, predetermining its responsibilities. Naturally, the powers should be sufficient to carry out the tasks and achieve the goals that the state assigns to the prosecutor's office. The latter, in order to fulfill their functions, must fulfill the duties assigned to them with full responsibility.

A Note on Competence

Competence is a kind of analogue of legal capacity. Both of these categories characterize the legal status of subjects in society and the state. But there is a significant difference in their content. While legal capacity is only the legally recognized ability of an individual or legal entity to have rights and bear responsibilities, competence includes real powers granted by the state to its bodies.

The concept of prosecutorial powers is complex, it includes:

subjective rights granted to a body or official to perform the functions assigned to it;
powers in relations with the bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation;
powers with limited power, characteristic of relations with government authorities.

Subjective rights granted to the prosecutor to perform the functions assigned to him

Subjective right is the ability established by law to perform specific actions (in relation to the prosecutor's office - supervisory). But the subjective right provided contains the need for its implementation, since it must certainly be implemented in order to combat violations of the law, restore violated rights and legally protected interests of various subjects, and bring perpetrators to justice. The goals and objectives facing the prosecutor's office transform subjective rights into subjective responsibilities of prosecutors. Powers are not just a connection between rights and duties, but their unity. Every right is a duty and, conversely, every duty is a right. For example, in accordance with Art. 10 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”, prosecutors not only have the right to consider complaints and statements containing information about violations of the law, but are also obliged to do this in order to take measures to eliminate them. Thus, in the legal status of prosecutorial bodies (as well as other state bodies) there is no differentiation of rights and responsibilities in the same way as is the case for citizens. The official duty of prosecutors combines them together in the concept of “power”.

Prosecutors primarily bear responsibilities to the state, since it predetermined their appointment and assigned them the performance of strictly defined functions. One gets the impression that, in relation to various government bodies, public organizations, institutions, and enterprises, prosecutors act only as bearers of law. But that's not true. The legal position of the prosecutor does not essentially change when he enters into relations with supervised subjects, because the obligation inherent in his law also manifests itself in relation to them.

More details

Let's imagine that the head of the district administration made an illegal decision. The prosecutor has a duty to the state to challenge it. In relation to the head of the administration, he has the right to protest, but, it would seem, not an obligation. At the same time, the prosecutor must assist local governments in observing the law, therefore, the duty to the state included in the prosecutor’s powers automatically works in relation to various authorities and management.

This obligation is especially pronounced in relation to those whose rights and interests protected by law are violated. In this case, the prosecutor takes measures to restore and protect them. Suppose a citizen contacts the prosecutor's office with a complaint about a robbery. According to the law, the prosecutor must accept the application, register it, check it, if there are grounds for this, initiate a criminal case and transfer it to the investigator. In this situation, he bears a responsibility not only to the state, but also to the victim, whose interests are to be protected.

The literature has expressed the opinion that the competence of the prosecutor is already the totality of all his rights and obligations. For example, established by Art. 289 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the right to familiarize yourself in court with the case materials and received complaints cannot be attributed to the competence of the prosecutor. But this provision is not substantiated in any way, and it is not clear on what basis it is necessary to separate powers from rights and obligations. If you agree with the above point of view, then you will have to exclude all the rights and responsibilities of the prosecutor to supervise the implementation of laws by the bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation, the rights and responsibilities associated with participation in the consideration of criminal and civil cases by courts, the implementation of general supervision, supervision over compliance with the law in places of detention. In this situation, the competence of the prosecutor's office turns out to be meaningless and unnecessary to characterize their legal status.

The powers of the prosecutor are sometimes referred to as the powers of prosecutorial supervision. Meanwhile, these terms, despite their obvious similarity, are not identical. In its semantic meaning, authority is granting someone the right to perform any action. Authority is interpreted as the possession of a legal right. By creating bodies, the state transfers to them part of its rights and assigns certain responsibilities to them, endowing them with real powers as its representatives. Powers are a civil legal category.

In the science of constitutional law, competence is revealed as a set of powers. This is right. The state, as the bearer of power, by establishing bodies, distributes it among the latter in the form of power. The scope and nature of the prosecutor's powers are unique. Various opinions have been expressed on this matter. Some authors are convinced that the prosecutor has no power in civil and criminal proceedings. Others believe that the prosecutor has authority in all areas.

Nevertheless, the definition of competence given in the science of constitutional law cannot be fully used to characterize the legal status of the prosecutor’s office due to the uniqueness and complexity of the functions they perform. The range of subjects over which the prosecutor's supervision is carried out over the implementation of laws is very wide. Depending on their legal status, supervision is carried out differently.

In relation to the courts, he cannot be powerful, and therefore his powers should not be so. Judges are independent and subject only to the law. The power of prosecutors would constitute an attack on this independence.

Powers of prosecutors in relations with bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation

Prosecutors have other powers in relations with the bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation. Here the prosecutor's power is manifested in an active form. Prosecutors can not only identify violations of the law, but also directly eliminate them. For example, according to the current criminal procedural legislation, the prosecutor has the right (Article 37 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation):

remove the investigator from further investigation if he violates the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation;
demand from the bodies of inquiry and investigative bodies the elimination of violations of federal legislation committed during the inquiry or preliminary investigation;
give the investigator written instructions on the direction of the investigation and the conduct of procedural actions.

An active form of power in a somewhat narrowed scope is also manifested in the exercise of supervision over compliance with the rule of law in places of restriction and deprivation of liberty. In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 33 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”, the prosecutor, by his resolution, can release any person held without legal grounds in correctional institutions.

Powers with limited power, characteristic of relations with government authorities

The subjects of power are numerous, and in relation to them, prosecutors cannot perform any managerial functions. Only the prosecutor's powers to identify violations of the law have power. As for the powers to eliminate the latter, the prosecutor can only make demands on the competent authorities to take the necessary measures.

Types of powers of prosecutors

By level of authority:

general (refers to the prosecutor’s office as a whole, is determined by Articles 1, 2, 9, etc. of the Federal Law and includes the entire range of powers granted to it);
certain types of prosecutor's offices: territorial, military, transport, environmental and prosecutor's offices at correctional institutions;
individual (inherent in each prosecutorial authority separately).

By nature, the powers of the prosecutor’s office are divided into two types:

basic (directly related to supervision);
additional (concerning the organization of the work of prosecutorial bodies), according to their intended purpose they are divided into:

subject;
functional.

Subject (and this is clear from the name) are associated with the subject of supervision, i.e. legal actions and acts of subjects, the implementation of laws of which is supervised by the prosecutor's office.

The Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation” identifies the following types of substantive powers of prosecutors :

when supervising the implementation of laws;
when supervising the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms;
when supervising the implementation of laws by bodies carrying out operational investigative activities, inquiry and preliminary investigation;
when supervising the implementation of laws by the administrations of bodies and institutions executing punishment and compulsory measures imposed by the court, administrations of places of detention of detainees and prisoners in custody;
with the participation of the prosecutor in the consideration of cases by the courts.

Functional powers regulate the actions of prosecutors to identify violations of the law and respond to them.

All powers, both subject and functional, are sectoral. They are determined by law in relation to each industry separately, taking into account its specifics. There are no powers common to all sectors, since supervision is implemented not in general, but in individual areas.

In addition, in the system of the prosecutor's office there are organizational relations, the presence of which is determined by the provision of additional powers: rights and responsibilities for managing work, planning, distributing assignments among employees, monitoring the quality of their work, etc.

2.5

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1. The Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation: concept and constitutional status.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is a unified federal centralized system of bodies exercising, on behalf of the Russian Federation, supervision over compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the implementation of laws in force on the territory of the Russian Federation

The activities of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation are regulated by the rules of law reflected in Article 129 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”.

2. Principles of activity of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

Principles of organization and activities of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation (Article 4 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation):

3. Powers of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

Powers of the prosecutor (Article 22 and Article 27 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”):

— Consideration and verification of applications, complaints and other reports of violations of human and civil rights and freedoms.

— Explaining to victims the procedure for protecting their rights and freedoms.

— Taking measures to prevent and suppress violations of human and civil rights and freedoms, bring to justice those who violated the law, and compensate for the damage caused.

— If there are grounds to believe that the violation of human and civil rights and freedoms has the nature of a crime, the prosecutor takes measures to ensure that the persons who committed it are subject to criminal prosecution in accordance with the law.

— In cases where the violation of human and civil rights and freedoms has the nature of an administrative offense, the prosecutor initiates proceedings on an administrative offense or immediately transmits a report of the offense and inspection materials to the body or official authorized to consider cases of administrative offenses.

-In the event of a violation of human and civil rights and freedoms protected in civil proceedings, when the victim, for health reasons, age or other reasons, cannot personally defend his rights and freedoms in court or arbitration court, or when the rights and freedoms of a significant number of citizens are violated, or due to other circumstances, the violation has acquired special public significance, the prosecutor files and supports a claim in court or arbitration court in the interests of the victims.

— The prosecutor, when performing the functions assigned to him, has the right to:

A) upon presentation of an official ID, freely enter the territories and premises of the bodies specified in paragraph 1 of Article 21 of this Federal Law, have access to their documents and materials, check the implementation of laws in connection with information received by the prosecutor's office about facts of violation of the law;

B) demand from managers and other officials of these bodies to provide the necessary documents, materials, statistical and other information; assigning specialists to clarify issues that have arisen; conducting inspections based on materials and appeals received by the prosecutor's office, auditing the activities of organizations controlled or subordinate to them;

C) summon officials and citizens for explanations regarding violations of laws.

— The prosecutor or his deputy, on the grounds established by law, initiates proceedings for an administrative offense, demands that persons who have violated the law be brought to other liability established by law, and warns against the inadmissibility of violating the law.

— The prosecutor or his deputy, in the event of a violation of the law by the bodies and officials specified in paragraph 1 of Article 21 of this Federal Law:

A) by its decision releases persons illegally subjected to administrative detention on the basis of decisions of non-judicial bodies;

B) protests legal acts that contradict the law, applies to a court or arbitration court with a demand to recognize such acts as invalid;

C) makes a proposal to eliminate violations of the law.

— Officials of the bodies specified in paragraph 1 of Article 21 of this Federal Law are obliged to begin fulfilling the requirements of the prosecutor or his deputy to conduct inspections and audits immediately.

uses the powers provided for in Article 22 of this Federal Law.

4. Prosecutor's supervision.

The most important activity of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is supervision.

Prosecutorial supervision is the activity of prosecutors to verify the legality of decisions and actions of government bodies, public associations, and officials.

Prosecutor's supervision contributes to the prevention, prevention and suppression of illegal acts, restoration of violated rights and legitimate interests, and helps to bring perpetrators to justice.

Types of prosecutorial supervision, in accordance with Article 2 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”:

— supervision over the implementation of laws by federal ministries, state committees, services and other federal executive bodies, representative (legislative) and executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies, military command and control bodies, control bodies, their officials, management bodies and commercial managers and non-profit organizations, as well as compliance with the laws of the legal acts issued by them;

— supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms.

— supervision over the implementation of laws by bodies carrying out operational investigative activities, inquiry and preliminary investigation.

— supervision over the implementation of laws by bailiffs;

-supervision over the implementation of laws by the administrations of bodies and institutions executing punishment and applying compulsory measures prescribed by the court, and by the administrations of places of detention and detention.

Basic regulatory legal acts related to the activities of prosecutorial supervision (Articles 23,24,25, 25.1 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”):

1) Protest of the prosecutor - Article 23.

2) Representation of the prosecutor - Article 24.

3) Prosecutor's resolution - Article 25.

4) Warning about the inadmissibility of violating the law - Article 25.1.

5. The system of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation.

The system of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation (Article 11 of the Federal Law "On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation):

The prosecutor's office system of the Russian Federation consists of:

— General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

— Prosecutor's offices of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, equivalent military and other specialized prosecutor's offices.

— Prosecutor’s offices of cities and districts, other territorial, military and other specialized prosecutor’s offices.

— Scientific and educational institutions.

The system of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation includes the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, consisting of:

— Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

— Investigative departments of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and specialized and military investigative departments equivalent to them.

— Investigative departments of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in regions, cities and specialized and military investigative departments equivalent to them.

The system of the prosecutor's office can be viewed in more detail in this table.

6. Legal status of personnel of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

The legal status of personnel of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is regulated by the legal norms of Section V the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”.

In accordance with Article 40 of the Federal Law "On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation", the following requirements are established for candidates for the positions of prosecutors or investigators of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation:

— Availability of Russian citizenship

— Absence of any other citizenship.

— Availability of the necessary moral, professional and business qualities.

— Fitness for health reasons to serve in the prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation

— Availability of legal capacity

— No criminal record

— There is no court decision regarding the candidate prohibiting the candidate from holding a public position in the civil service.

Additional requirements for candidates or employees of the prosecutor's office:

— The need to go through the procedure for access to state secrets.

— Employees of the prosecutor's office should not be subordinate or controlled by close relatives.

— The minimum age is set at 25 years, with 3 years of work experience as a prosecutor or investigator for the positions of a city prosecutor, district prosecutor and equivalent specialized prosecutor’s offices.

— The minimum age is established at 30 years, with 5 years of experience as a prosecutor or investigator, for positions of prosecutors of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and prosecutors equivalent to them.

— In exceptional cases, it is possible to appoint students of law faculties of accredited universities to the position of assistant prosecutors or investigators, provided they have completed 3 courses.

— Persons may be appointed to the positions of military prosecutors or investigators, provided they are fit for military service and have an officer rank.

7. Participation of prosecutors in the consideration of cases by courts.

Forms of participation of prosecutors in the consideration of cases by courts, in accordance with Articles 35,36,37,38,39 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”:

1. The prosecutor, in accordance with the procedural legislation of the Russian Federation, has the right to apply to the court with a statement or intervene in the case at any stage of the process, if this is required by the protection of the rights of citizens and the interests of society or the state protected by law.

2. The prosecutor, in accordance with the procedural legislation of the Russian Federation, has the right to apply to the court with a statement or intervene in the case at any stage of the process, if required by the protection of the rights of citizens and the interests of society or the state protected by law.

3. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation may participate in sessions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation.

4. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on issues of violation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.