Compliance with the legal act of the Constitution and the enforcement of laws in force in the country should be immutable. For this, a federal centralized system of bodies called the prosecutor’s office has been created. It is not a branch of state power and performs its functions independently of it. The organizational structure of the prosecutor's office is paramilitary.
Story
The prototype of the structure of the prosecution authorities of the Russian Federation was the Fiscal Service, founded by Peter I in 1711. Its main difference from the organization that exists at present is the secret of oversight. However, already 11 years later, the same king issued a decree on explicit supervision and the emergence of the post of prosecutor, who was supposed to punish criminals and protect the innocent at the same time.
The foundation laid by Peter I was continued under Catherine II, who issued a decree closer to the end of the 18th century, specifying the powers and functions of prosecutors in provinces. After almost a hundred years, their main task was to carry out a state prosecution in court. At the same time, the general structure of the prosecutor’s office began to take shape, and its relations with other departments began to be determined. So, the police were under her supervision, and investigators did not obey her.
The history of the prosecutor's office was interrupted in 1917 in order to resume again in 1922. Then it became one of the departments of the People's Commissariat of Justice. Prosecutors received an expansion of powers, now in addition to participating in the court, they had to oversee the legality of the work of authorities, legal and private individuals, initiate cases as necessary, and monitor the activities of institutions.
In 1929, the prosecutor's office for 4 years became part of the Supreme Court of the USSR, after which, finally, it gained independence.
Major organizations
In an organization, lower prosecutors report to higher ones. The structure of the prosecution authorities includes several of the following organizations:
- Prosecutor General's Office;
- prosecutors of subjects;
- territorial;
- specialized.
In addition to the listed prosecutor's offices, this list also includes editions of print media, as well as scientific and educational institutions. Of the latter, the Moscow Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office, founded in 2007, is considered one of the most prestigious. It has branches in Irkutsk, St. Petersburg, Simferopol and Kazan.
Students enter the Faculty of Law, represented by eight departments, after which they can go to master's training or work at a research institute. In addition, the Academy has retraining and continuing education programs.
Central office
The structure of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation consists of the main and other departments and divisions. In addition, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office is included in it as a structural unit. The highest official in the entire organization is the Prosecutor General, who, like his deputies and the Chief Military Prosecutor, is represented by the President and appointed by the Federation Council. The Prosecutor General may initiate the creation, reorganization or abolition of institutions subject to him, determine their status and scope of competence.
After him come the deputies, and then the senior assistants. The latter can have various positions, for example, be heads of departments or advisers, and perform both ordinary functions and special assignments.
Assistants who do not have senior status usually hold the positions of deputy heads of departments, head departments, or carry out special assignments from the first deputy Attorney General.
The prosecutor's office of the subject
In the structure of the prosecutor general’s office, in addition to deputies and assistants to a senior official, there are posts of prosecutors and senior prosecutors. They can work in departments and departments. The prosecutor's offices of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are also headed by prosecutors.Their appointment is made by the President, but it is impossible without coordination with representative bodies. The prosecutor of the subject has deputies and assistants subordinate. Usually they do not work in the main departments, but they can become department heads. Specialized prosecutors (for example, military) appointed and dismissed by the President are equated with the heads of prosecutors of the subjects.
District Prosecutor's Office
The structure of the district prosecutor's office as a whole repeats that for the general and subject. It is led by a prosecutor, and assistants help him. After them, the heads of departments in which assistant prosecutors work are standing on the career ladder. A department as such may not exist. Then the assistants come together in groups depending on which deputy prosecutor they report to. In this case, the position of the department head is abolished.
However, even with the existing department, the status of his boss is not high. The person who heads it is considered not to be procedural and in its powers practically does not differ from senior assistants.
Specialized industries
In a specialized branch of the prosecutor’s structure, a transport organization stands out. In her department is all the railway, water and air transport, or rather, the implementation of laws by its law enforcement agencies and customs officers. The transport prosecutor’s office brings to justice officials whose actions violate the rights and freedoms of citizens engaged in labor activities at transport enterprises, organizations and institutions.
Environmental problems have led to the need to create an environmental prosecutor's office in the structure of bodies. Its staff is responsible for monitoring compliance by environmental officials and environmental organizations. When they commit environmental crimes, the environmental prosecutor will act as a prosecutor in a criminal court. However, he may file civil claims and participate in the relevant legal proceedings. If the prosecutor considers that the court verdict was unreasonably pronounced until the decision has entered into force, he may file a protest. After this time, he should contact the territorial prosecutor.
The military prosecutor’s office, according to the name, monitors the implementation of laws in military formations, bodies and directly troops. It does not in any way replace the territorial branch for these organizations in the structure of the prosecutor's office, and assumes its functions only where it does not work for any exceptional circumstances, or abroad of the Russian Federation.
Civilians become military prosecutors in exceptional cases, since they usually have high requirements for this position: a state of health that allows them to perform military service, and the presence of an officer rank. Moreover, for them all the benefits that exist for military personnel apply.
So that the activities of specialized and territorial organizations do not overlap, their competences are delimited by the Prosecutor General. Due to this, the number of areas that would not fall under the supervision of any branch of the system and structure of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation is reduced, and the work of different departments does not overlap.
Tasks Performed
A carefully organized system and structure of the prosecutor's office allows it to ensure the supremacy and unity of the rule of law, strengthen it, protect the interests of the state and citizens. The issued legal acts must comply with the laws, and their implementation is carried out at all levels, therefore, the prosecutor's office oversees both federal and state bodies, as well as executive and legislative.Officials and heads of bodies of control, military and local self-government are also subject to verification.
No less important is the supervision of the operational-investigative and investigative bodies, the preliminary investigation, the bailiffs, the administrations executing the sentences of the convicted, and their places of detention.
In addition to the main functions, the structure of the prosecutor's office provides for cooperation with law enforcement agencies, the implementation of international relations, the issuance of special publications, and participation in meetings of government bodies and local self-government.
It is generally accepted that the prosecutor is the main prosecutor in court, but in addition to this, he can point out sentences that contradict the law and participate in law-making activities. The duties of these officials may also include receiving applications (most often, complaints or statements) and making decisions on them.
Credentials
The structure of the prosecutor's office determines the rights and obligations for each official who is in the service, depending on the functions assigned to him. This means that the prosecutor who monitors the legality of the issued acts has a unique right to demand from the relevant officials any materials and documents within his competence. Some posts suggest the possibility of overriding unreasonable decisions of the oversight bodies.
The authority to request documents and generally the entrance to the territory of the audited organization is confirmed by an official certificate. She is required to single out one or more specialists who will provide the necessary materials and answer questions. In addition, the prosecutor may also call other officials in order to obtain explanations from them on a particular occasion. Based on the results of the inspection, a criminal case may be instituted or an administrative offense recorded, as a result of which the perpetrators are brought to justice. If there are no violations of the law, the prosecutor may leave any recommendations for correcting the work, which the organization should immediately follow.
These powers are defined in a number of federal laws, as well as in civil and procedural legislation. The latter identifies the legal means of detecting violations and eliminating them, as well as warning. The prosecutor is obliged to use them in his work.
However, normative documents cannot regulate all actions of the prosecutor, and he additionally uses sources of information in his work and makes an appropriate analysis of the data, can hold the necessary meetings and events.
Since the specific authority depends on the place occupied by the service in the structure of the Russian prosecutor’s office, officials can perform different functions. A prosecutor participating in a court may bring charges or refuse to prosecute if his position changes in the light of new circumstances. He can independently apply to the court with statements and protests or requests to appeal the decisions, regardless of the time they take effect and, if necessary, take part in the process, at whatever stage he is currently at.
The Attorney General has higher powers. He can participate in meetings of the Supreme Court, appeal to the Constitutional protests, request clarification from lower courts.
Work organization
In order for all structures of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation to conduct due diligence checks and not to lose sight, every six months a work plan is drawn up. For this, all proposals for events received before May 5 and before November 5 from departments, research institutes and other institutions specializing in strengthening the rule of law are studied and analyzed.
For the material to be submitted for consideration, it must meet several requirements: contain a clear justification, indicate approximate dates and specific methods of execution, explain the significance of obtaining results and offer candidates for the event.
The organizational and control department draws up a plan from the most promising proposals, the project is discussed at an operational meeting in the presence of the Deputy Prosecutor General. As a result of the meeting, the plan is being finalized, finally agreed and submitted for approval by the Prosecutor General.
A month before the start of the half-year, it is sent to departments, departments and other divisions of the prosecutor's office. Usually, after this, the plan is not subject to adjustment. Changes are made by the Prosecutor General only in exceptional cases after a reasoned report from the head of a department.
Execution control
In order for all orders and instructions of the local prosecutor to be executed properly, his deputies carry out organizational and control management. In particular, it is expressed in the analysis of statistics, plans, documents and other materials coming from subordinate organizations. If necessary, travel to a checked place. The safety of all documents taken for verification is ensured by the establishment of control cards or files on them.
Typically, an organization is under control for about a year, unless otherwise agreed. After this period, the prosecutor decides to terminate supervision. For this, the heads of departments petition the Prosecutor General.
Conclusion
The activities of all structures of the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation are clearly coordinated and controlled. Thanks to this, prosecutors can do their job as efficiently as possible, successfully and quickly solve problems such as strengthening the rule of law and eliminating crime, and use a limited amount of procedural means.
Ideally, the actions of prosecutors should be aimed not only at detecting violations of the law, but also at preventing such crimes. Preventive measures include issuing warnings to various organizations, and corrective ones include eliminating violations.
Improvement of the main parts of the system of prosecution authorities (district, city) is carried out by improving staff skills, supporting the initiative of prosecutors and investigators, carefully identifying shortcomings in work and their elimination.