According to the law, the powers of the prosecutor are to oversee compliance with laws. Prosecutorial powers are divided into 3 groups:
- prevention of violations;
- identification of violations;
- elimination of violations.
The prosecutor should not be hindered by the exercise of supervisory powers, which are his professional duty. He is vested with the right to freely enter the territory of the bodies under his supervision at the right time, regardless of the access regime. For this, it is enough for him to present his official identity card.
The powers of the prosecutor give the right to request any documents that are required in order to identify violations of the law. It is not allowed to refuse to provide the prosecutor even with documents that contain commercial secrets. It is the duty of the prosecutor to comply with the non-disclosure rules prescribed by law when working with classified documents.
The powers of the prosecutor allow him to appeal against legal acts that do not comply with the law, for which he is obliged to apply to the court to declare them invalid. When it is established that officials have violated the law, the prosecutor can release illegally detained persons if they were detained on the basis of decisions not issued by a court.
The prosecutor is a participant in the criminal process. The powers of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings differ at different stages.
At the stage of the preliminary investigation and the initiation of a criminal case, the powers of the prosecutor are the broadest and bear the character of imperative-administrative. The prosecutor oversees the bodies involved in the preliminary investigation, investigative and operational-search work. It is his responsibility to monitor compliance with laws by these authorities.
The powers of the prosecutor at the pretrial stage can be divided into four groups.
The prosecutor agrees to the filing of a request by the inquiry officer for the election, modification or cancellation of the preventive measure (house arrest, detention, removal from business, recording of negotiations, seizure of property, search of housing, personal search).
He gives written instructions and sanctions to conduct actions to the bodies involved in the inquiry and preliminary investigation, participates in the investigation, prolongs the preliminary investigation, and resolves other issues that arise during the investigation.
It allows recusals and recusals of investigators, interrogators, subordinate prosecutors. It removes the interrogators and investigators from the investigation, seizes the criminal cases from the interrogator and transfers them to the investigator, transfers cases from one body to another with the obligatory justification of such changes.
He approves the indictment and directs the case to the court, returns the case to the investigator or interrogating officer for further investigation, suspends and terminates the criminal case.
During the trial phase, the prosecutor is vested with other powers. He is the public prosecutor or official with a role in eliminating violations of the law.
The system of the prosecutor's office provides for the posts of senior assistant prosecutor and assistant prosecutor, which are subordinate to the deputy prosecutors. The assistant is an independent person who can influence the actions within the process. He prepares legal acts for signature to the prosecutor. The powers of the assistant prosecutor allow him to independently take a number of procedural actions, for example, to give the investigator of the supervised bodies written instructions on the questions of the investigation. The assistant’s duties do not include actions that only the prosecutor and deputy are authorized to perform, for example, authorizing a search, seizing documents, taking into custody, placement in a psychiatric institution, and more.