A quarter of the cases transferred to the prosecutor's office by Vitebsk investigators were investigated in 2012 under accelerated proceedings
Every fourth criminal case transferred to the prosecutor's office by investigators in the Vitebsk region was investigated under accelerated proceedings in 2012, Vladimir Shalukhin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus for the Vitebsk region, told a BELTA correspondent.
Accelerated proceedings for cases involve their investigation within a period of 10 to 15 days. Out of more than 7,000 completed criminal cases transferred to prosecutors, 25.1% were investigated within tight deadlines.
As Vladimir Shalukhin noted, shortening the deadlines does not negatively affect the quality of the investigation. Thus, in 2011 cases transferred to courts, 11 persons were acquitted. In 2012 cases, courts issued only three acquittals. Therefore, errors related to unjustified prosecution have significantly decreased, stated Vladimir Shalukhin.
On the one hand, this circumstance is facilitated by a steady trend towards crime reduction, which has been observed over the past three years. According to the department, in 2012, the number of crimes committed in the region decreased by 23.3%. At the same time, the department actively trained employees, summarized judicial practice to improve the quality of investigation, and made managerial decisions.