Belarusian court and legal reform nearing completion

MINSK (BelTA) – The court and legal reform is nearing completion in Belarus, The issue was on the agenda of the meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Chairman of the Supreme Court Valentin Sukalo on 16 April, BelTA has learned.

Alexander Lukashenko was interested in the progress of the court reform. “Without interference or control I want to know about the progress. We have created the Investigation Committee. Naturally, the entire process from interrogation to litigation should be more efficient and productive. Then we have merged general jurisdiction courts with economic courts,” the President said.

“Belarus is often criticized for authoritarianism or something else. There are frequent discussions, especially in Russia, about the independence of courts and other issues. But we have recently made a lot of decisions,” the President said.

Basic provisions of the court and legal reform have been outlined in the address of the head of state regarding the development prospects of general courts. It incorporates 54 concrete instructions, 48 of them have been already implemented, the other six are underway. It is expected that the final stage of the court and legal reform will be completed this year.