Public Prosecutor's holiday

January 12 is Public Prosecutor Day in Russia.
Post of General-Public Prosecutor was established by the decree of Peter the Great 282 years ago which introduced General-Public Prosecutor in the Senate and Chief-Public Prosecutor in every government department. The czar named the General - Public Prosecutor "czar's eye" and "scrivener on the affairs of the state" and granted him the power to control the observance of the law by the authorities on all levels. Since then the offices of Public Prosecutor in Russia protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, carrying out their special functions of strengthening statehood and maintaining legislation in the country.

142 years later judicial reform took place in Russia , as a result of which the sphere of activity of Public Prosecutor offices was narrowed: they started doing what similar institutions were engaged in other countries - representing prosecution in court. Public Prosecutors stopped checking anything, except for the results of investigation submitted to court, on its basis they composed Prosecuting Summary and asserted it in court.

In 1917 the institution of Public Prosecutor was abolished , and in 1922 - it was restored as supervising body. Supervising functions of Public Prosecutor Office assumed certain independence on local institutions. In the Soviet Union the Office of Public Prosecutor supervised courts as well.

Public Prosecutor Office of the Russian Federation is the unified federal centralized set of bodies supervising, on behalf of the state, observance of the Constitution and execution of laws valid within the Russian Federation.

Today as almost three centuries ago, the Public Prosecutor Office is required to protect the state from citizens violating the law and citizens from injustice of the state. The Public Prosecutor Office acts as the guarantor on maintaining law and order in our society. During supervising checks-up Public Prosecutors reveal and
stop about 800 thousand law infringements related to violating human rights every year.

Through the course of history the primary directions of work for Public Prosecutor Office were supervision of observance of rights and interests of citizens, protection of legitimate interests of the state, fighting crime and ensuring that the law enforcement authorities act in strict accordance with the law, State Prosecutor General's Office representative said in an interview to RIA Novosti information agency.

Every year Public Prosecutor Office receives about 2 million appeals from citizens about violating their rights related to pension, work and housing, and also violating law while conducting investigation, on problems of rehabilitation and others. According to the State Prosecutor General's Office, "every fourth complaint has valid grounds and requests intervention of public prosecutor ".

On October 7, 2002 President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed Federal Law on making amendments to the Law "About Office of Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation".  The amendments are aimed at protecting Public Prosecutor officers from the pressure of criminals. According to the document, "public prosecutors and investigators are representatives of the government and they are under special protection of the state".  The Law puts their close relatives under the state protection as well. In unusual cases other persons are subjected to such protection if "encroachments are made to their life, health or property with the purpose to prevent legal activity of public prosecutors and investigators, or to force them to change its character, or to revenge for their professional activity ".

Public Prosecutor Day is officially marked in the Russian Federation as January 12, according to the Decree of President of Russia from December  29, 1995.

Source: http://www.rian.ru/rian/intro.cfm