On Thursday, the Constitutional Court has considered the complaints of six NGOs, including the Association “Agora”, the Human Rights Center “Memorial”, as well as chairman of the “Civic Assistance” Svetlana Gannushkina. The applicants claimed to recognize the unconstitutional provisions of the law “On Prosecutor’s Office”, which establishes the right agency to conduct unscheduled inspections, but it is not regulated by the procedure itself. We are talking about paragraph 1 of Article 6, paragraph 2 of Article 21 and paragraph 1 of article 22 of the Federal Law №2202-I. The court session lasted six and a half hours, during which the court declared breaks several times.
Search compromising locks work
The first appeared in the court lawyer “Agora “Ramil Ahmetgaliev, spoke about the practice of prosecutors to come to any test at any time and for any organization. The law does not regulate the timing check, its duration or frequency of and the right to organize, which is checked. That, according to the lawyer, may reside in a state audit that, in fact, can block the work of the organization. In addition, the prosecutor’s checks often duplicate checking other special state bodies supervising the activities of NGOs, including the Ministry of Justice. And the grounds for unscheduled inspections can serve almost any information. “We are not saying that there should be no supervision, the question is how it is done,” – said Ahmetgaliev. According to him, annually held in Russia over 2.6 million checks various supervising bodies.
Akhmetgalieva supported by the representative of “Memorial” lawyer Sergei Golubkov and Gannushkina. They noted that the prosecution can come up with a test for another reason, but then identify other violations and expand the scope of inspection. And also to attract professionals, for example, employees of tax inspections, which are beginning to independent verification. “The law now allows the campaign to find compromising materials on public organizations”, – explained Gannushkina.
After hearing the representatives, the court announced a break, after which the hall disappeared government spokesman Mikhail Barschevsky. “Strange mode with him, then he is, then it is not” – surprised the Chief Justice Valery Zorkin and gave the floor to the representative of the State Duma deputy Dmitry Vyatkina.
Method surprises
«Imagine the situation: a citizen travels by car – began by Vyatkin. – But it five times in a row was stopped by traffic police, must present law, look in the trunk, ask to see the fire extinguisher. And citizen already shouting: “Yes how many are possible! Let’s set that you can check more than once, and even more so on the same street “- Vyatkin took a pause. – But the motorist nobody explains that announced a plan “Interception”, they are looking for a car, and the car just like it. This principle and the prosecutor’s investigation “- summed up the deputy.
« There is absolutely humiliating cases where retail price tags are rewritten to checkout, removed counterfeit products off the shelves. But the test will end, and everything is back to square one “- continued to draw analogies Vyatkin. He stated that the contested provisions are not contrary to the Constitution and asked to dismiss the complaint of NGOs.
A similar position was taken by the representative of the Council of Federation Alexei Alexandrov. He acknowledged that there are cases of abuse of power of inspection bodies. But the organization, which checks are interested to check were less frequent and less checked them carefully. “Supervision would be ineffective if the organization previously reported audits,” – supported by colleagues of the president of Mikhail Krotov. He noted that the prosecutor’s checks always recognized “the most effective tool to detect violations.” Mole insisted that the prosecution does not conduct duplicative testing and oversees the way the Ministry of Justice and inspection bodies carrying out government supervision. “Instead of fighting with violations, we’re going to deal with the procedure to identify them?” – Asked Krotov.
The dispute is not about the law, and the Rules of Procedure, the court reminded
After the lunch break, the court gave the floor to representatives of the supervisory authorities themselves from the General Prosecutor’s Office – Tatyana Vasilyeva, and from the Ministry of Justice – Marina Melnikova. They, like Krotov, insisted that no duplicate checks are carried out. “You can not say that the prosecutor’s activities are not regulated – insisted Vasiliev. – There are a number of orders the Attorney General, including regulations ».
In defense of NGOs made only a member of the Human Rights Council under the President Ilya Shablinsky. He stated that the dispute in a court of law does not regard the prosecutor’s office to carry out inspections, and her lack of regulations that allows abuse this right.
Shablinsky noted that the activities of the Ministry of Justice is clearly regulated, as is the case with the prosecutor’s office in the law have large gaps. Thus, the maximum duration of testing the Ministry of Justice is only 20 days and no time limit for the Prosecutor’s Office is not installed.
«It is a fact the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Justice carried out the same control actions and learn the same documents, at least for paper, they perform different functions, “- said Shablinsky. According to him, the rules as amended contrary to the Constitution.
After listening to stakeholders, Chairman Zorkin said that the court shall retire to deliberate. As a rule, the Constitutional Court requires one to two months for a decision.
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