In 2002 Russian Prosecutors Launch 140,000 Criminal Cases

Over the first 11 months of 2002, the Russian prosecutors launched criminal proceedings in 140,000 cases. During this period 29,000 murders or attempted murders, 7,500 rapes, and 23,000 cases of malfeasance were recorded in Russia. Law enforcement officials launched criminal proceedings in 900,000 cases with the approval of the prosecutors office. These figures were made public today by the public relations department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

The PR department stressed that the priorities for the prosecutor's office were monitoring human rights and freedoms, fighting crime, and ensuring that ministers, government departments, and regional authorities uphold the law.

In 2002, around 101,000 legislative acts which were in breach of the law were annulled after protests by prosecutors. Prosecutors launched 280,000 civil and arbitration suits, worth about 20 billion roubles (USD 630 million), on behalf of citizens, the state and society. Over the first 11 months of 2002, prosecutors uncovered around 200,000 instances of laws being broken, including almost 57,000 illegal legislative acts, in state organs. Over 6,500 state employees were held to account and punished at the initiative of prosecutors.

Since Russia's new Legal Code was introduced on July 1, 2002, prosecutors have brought to light around 350,000 cases of laws being broken during preliminary investigations and inquiries, as a result of which over 28,000 people have been disciplined.