MINSK, 20 August (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed to serious deficiencies and failures in the work of the law enforcement during the government conference held on 20 August to discuss the quality of crime detection and investigation by law enforcement agencies, BelTA has learned.
Appeals of citizens and regulatory enforcement reveal a number of problems, including grave ones. “The recent example (it was broadly discussed in the media, but I do not want to dwell on it now) is the case of the chief engineering officer of Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant. I believe the case is not as simple as it seems to the public and even the court. However, this is a matter of a separate discussion. This is a good example of the form and essence of your work. This pertains to the police, among other agencies. The number of appeals and high-profile cases reveals serious deficiencies and mistakes in the work of the police, investigative branch and, unfortunately, public prosecutor's office,” the president said.
In his words, people sometimes get an impression that the law enforcement cares more about performance indicators and ratings rather than people. “Falsifications during investigations of criminal cases are so blatant that you should not have launched these criminal proceedings at all. Some officers get so out of line that they should be stripped of rank – these people deserve to be removed from our society much more than those who they charge with a crime,” the head of state said.
It is even worse when they use violence incommensurate with the situation. “You think are you masters of other people's fate! You stormed into a house with children and pregnant women in it, pin a person to the ground or ‘put him on a face' as you call it, frogmarch him, break several ribs and cause a concussion at the minimum. Those who did it are total idiots who should not be with the law enforcement, either. What is absolutely unacceptable is the emergence of a new ‘form of work' in the law enforcement – the use of coercion in a criminal investigation. They even approach judges and start pressurizing and intimidating them,” the president noted.
Aleksandr Lukashenko was outraged that such facts are simply brought to the president's attention with no action taken against such officers. The head of state noted that he should be informed about the response to such incidents.
“This has nothing to do with the rule of law. Today we need to identify all the reasons for such things and to decide what to do in order to prevent the violation of human rights in our country,” the head of state noted.
