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Investigative Committee analyzes consideration of applications and circulation of documents

The RF Investigative Committee has summarized the data on the amount of document circulation in the central office and territorial offices, as well as analyzed the consideration of applications filed by citizens.

The amount of documents processed in the Investigative Committee grows steadily. In the first half of 2016, it was 5.6 million copies of documents which is 9.5% more than the amount over the same period last year – 5.4 million copies. The Investigative Committee’s Central Office processed more than 409 thousand copies of incoming, outgoing and internal documents over the first half of 2016, which is 5.3% up from the first half of 2015 (388 thousand copies). The number of documents processed in territorial and specialized offices of the Investigative Committee has grown by 5.4%. They processed more than 5.2 million copies of documents in the first half of 2016 against 5 million copies last year.

These numbers reflect the flow of documents in Investigative Committee’s divisions since the moment they were made or received and to their execution or forwarding and include the documents coming from the Administration of the RF President, Government, Federation Council and State Duma of the Federal Assembly, Prosecutor General’s Office, territorial offices of the Investigative Committee, applications and complaints filed by citizens, as well as other documents regarding the activity of the Investigative Committee.

The number of citizens’ applications considered by the Investigative Committee is growing steadily as well. Citizens have all capabilities available today to file an application. Along with traditional forms of interaction with people, there are also different communication channels: direct application, a help line, online reception offices, direct telephone lines with heads of investigative authorities. In addition, one can address the Chairman of the RF investigative Committee directly via reception rooms in place in all territorial and specialized investigative offices, by writing to the Chairman’s blog on the official website of the agency or by leaving a message in official groups of the Investigative Committee on social networking sites.

In all, the Investigative Committee’s bodies have considered more than 171 thousand applications of the reporting period (the same period last year – 158 thousand applications), which is 8.3% up from last year. The growth in the number of applications considered in the central office is 4.7% with 21 thousand applications looked into during the first 6 months of 2016 (the same period last year – 20 thousand).

The number of granted applications is still low. In the first half 2016, the Investigative Committee’s offices granted 1,580 applications which is 1.6% of the total number of applications.

Main reasons for the applications in the first half of 2016 were: disagreement with actions (omission) or decisions made by investigators, heads of investigative authorities when they receive, register and check reports on crimes; incomplete pre-investigative checks and ill-grounded refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, as well as reports made by applicants in their complaints on new facts requiring checking; incomplete investigative operations and premature decisions on criminal cases.

Over granted applications, 52 decisions to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings have been cancelled, as well as 2 decisions to drop charges and 1 to suspend a preliminary investigation.

Citizens often address the Investigative Committee with issues outside its competence. As a rule in such cases they appeal against the decisions made by the police or prosecutor’s office or ask to check into violations of federal laws. It often happens that the reason for the application to be filed with the Investigative Committee is that other state authorities fail to take steps to restore violated rights and legal interests of citizens. In such cases the applications are forwarded to the authorities in whose jurisdiction such issues lie and citizens are explained the current law. More than 26 thousand such applications have been sent to prosecutor’s office alone and more than 30 thousand to other agencies.

Employees of the Investigative Committee actively continue seeing citizens at personal appointments. This year about 60 thousand of them have been seen. Heads of investigative authorities have started more intensely to hold joint appointments with heads of the police, prosecutor’s office and executive authorities, as well as other officials (for example regional children’s ombudsmen) and representatives of NGOs. For example, the head of the Investigative Committee’s Ural Transport Office has held an appointment at Koltsovo airport in the city of Yekaterinburg to reveal aircraft safety breaches. Officials of the Far Eastern Transport Office systematically take part in social and preventive campaigns The Passenger Hour held in transportation facilities and allow meeting citizens in large railway, sea and river ports and airports of the region.

At present, active work is continued to improve the mechanism of interaction with citizens in order to respond to the information they provide and the protection of their legal rights and interests.

Acting Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                  S.L. Petrenko