The powers of the prosecutor are determined by the current criminal procedure legislation, regulations on the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation. The assistant prosecutor is a person subordinate to him, the scope of his powers is not directly determined by the law, however, the prosecutor himself can delegate any powers to him by order.
In the system of city, district, regional prosecutors of the Russian Federation, not only the prosecutors of the Russian Federation themselves and their deputies, but also assistants work. The powers of prosecutors at each level are clearly defined in the current legislation, but practically nothing is said about the powers of assistants in the normative legal acts. In practice, assistant prosecutors perform by default only some of the functions and duties assigned to the respective prosecutor. If there is a need to grant the assistant additional powers, the prosecutor may issue a special order. So, such acts are often issued during the absence of the prosecutor, when the responsibilities for the implementation of his powers are forcedly distributed between deputies and assistants.
Basic powers of the prosecutor
Any prosecutor has four main groups of supervisory powers, and also ensures the participation of the relevant prosecutor's offices in the consideration of certain cases by the courts. Supervisory powers include:
1) supervision over the implementation of laws, during the implementation of which the prosecutor freely passes on the territory of official bodies, commercial organizations, makes mandatory requirements, calls officials;
2) supervision over the execution of rights and freedoms, in the course of which the prosecutor considers complaints, conducts explanatory work, takes measures to initiate criminal and administrative cases;
3) supervision over the implementation of laws by authorized bodies that carry out operational-search activities, carry out preliminary investigation, inquiry;
4) supervision over the implementation of laws in places of execution of sentences, within the framework of which the prosecutor visits places of detention of prisoners, checks their living conditions, puts forward demands to the administration of the relevant institutions.
Powers of an assistant prosecutor
The main function of the assistant prosecutor is to fulfill the direct orders of the prosecutor and his deputies. That is why, as a general rule, this employee is not endowed with the powers of the prosecutor himself. However, such powers can be transferred to him on the basis of a special order or job description. In addition, it is widespread to temporarily vest the assistant prosecutors with the powers of the prosecutors themselves during illness, vacation, or other absence of the official himself.
