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Today the Russia’s Investigative Committee holds an enlarged meeting of the board chaired by Alexander Bastrykin to sum up performance of investigating bodies in 2014 and setting tasks for 2015.

The meeting was attended by Head of Presidential Administration Sergey Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Vasilyev, Chairperson of Security and Anticorruption Committee of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya, Chairperson of Family, Women and Children Committee of the State Duma Yelena Mizulina, Head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin, Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation Pavel Astakhov, Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation for Human Rights, Democracy and Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov, Chairman of Constitutional Legislation and State Construction Committee of the Federation Council Andrey Klishas, Vice-Chairman of Civil, Criminal, Arbitrage and Procedure Legislation Committee of the State Duma Alexander Remezkov,  representatives of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, heads and representatives of divisions of the Central Office of the Russia’s Investigative Committee, heads of investigating directorates in the federal subjects of the Russian Federation.

The meeting was opened by Mr. Ivanov, who underlined that “The Investigative Committee is a rather young agency, which became independent only 4 years ago, but over those years it has become an important and needed link of our law enforcement system thanks to its committed work”.

In his report Chairman Bastrykin assessed performance of the Committee in its main areas of activity over the past year. “This was not an easy year for the country. Figuratively speaking, this year was a strength test. A test was passed successfully. The law and order in the state are stable, and the authority and positions of Russia on an international scene are getting stronger. The proof of that is recent Minsk agreements on peaceful settlement of military crisis in the southeast of Ukraine. The Russia’s Investigative Committee did not sit on the sidelines. We initiate prosecution of war criminals and nationalists. Those criminal cases, there are 39 of them, are investigated and the evidence are collected in conditions close to war ones”.

Speaking about the number of crimes, the Chairman said that “The positive tendency of reducing the number of crimes has remained. The general mass of registered crimes has fell by 2%. The number of murders has dropped by 4%, the number of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm – by 6%, rapes – by 3%”.

Mr. Bastrykin also stressed the increase in percentage of solved criminal cases over serious and especially serious crimes: “As a result of our joint efforts with inquiry authorities, operational units of the Russian Ministry of the Interior and Federal Security Service the number of murders solved has reached 89%. We solved 652 murders, over 2,700 (2,764) other serious and very serious crimes committed in the paste years. The number of cases with unidentified perpetrators is consistently decreasing. In 2008, there was almost 20% of such cases, in 2014 it fell to 11%”.

Besides, Mr. Bastrykin announced the results of investigative activity and said that “almost 900 thousand reports of crimes were reviewed and 140 criminal cases were opened in 2014. The investigators have finished proceedings over 120 thousand criminal cases and most of them were sent to court (+4%). The number of cases solved within two months’ period has increased by 19% (74,124). The total damage caused by crimes stands at over 78 billion rubles. Investigators have ensured compensation for almost 43 billion rubles (55% of the total damage), which is by 13% more than in 2013. Great attention has been paid to elimination of conditions and reasons that contributed to crimes. In 93% of cases (112 thousand) investigators forwarded requests following which over 20 thousand officials were disciplined”.

The Chairman also mentioned investigation of acts of corruption. It was noted that in 2014 the Investigative Committee received more than 40 thousand reports on acts of corruption, over which more than 25 thousand criminal proceedings were launched. Investigators finished almost 11 thousand criminal cases, including 48 cases against organized criminal groups. Over 24 thousand cases were sent to court.

In his report, Mr. Bastrykin also noted last-year intensification of legal measures taken against individuals with special legal status. Criminal cases against 630 such individuals were sent to court in 2014, including: 12 deputies of legislative authority in a federal subject, 38 officials of the Ministry of the Interior, 14 officials of the Investigative Committee, 14 officials of the Prosecutor’s Office, 2 judges, 234 deputies of local governments, 201 elective heads of municipalities, 52 lawyers, 1 investigator of the State Drug Control Service, 1 investigator of the Federal Security Service.

Mr. Bastrykin especially mentioned results of close cooperation between the Russia’s Investigative Committee and the Chamber of Accounts. “There is a joint working group within which there is constant cooperation with the Chamber of Accounts during both oversight and preliminary investigation. Based on the records provided by the Chamber of Accounts we have opened 17 investigations”.

Besides, the Chairman noted achievements in one of the main areas of the Committee’s activity – ensuring efficient protection of minors against crimes. “Unfortunately, the annual number of underage victims reaches over 14 thousand. From them in 2014, 3,634 victims are under 10 years of age. 677 criminal investigations have been launched in murders of children (in 2013 - 623). Over 8 thousand cases over crimes committed against minors have been sent to court. We will continue working persistently to ensure inevitable punishment for such atrocious crimes and we are going to focus on inevitability of punishment for negligence of officials”, - the Chairman said.

In conclusion Mr. Bastrykin outlined the tasks that the Committee is going to solve in 2015.