MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Personnel's rights abuse makes 25 percent of all criminal cases brought in the Armed Forces in 2003, chief of the Organization Department of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office (analog to U.S. Judge Advocate General's office - Interfax-AVN) Major General Alexander Nikitin said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda daily, published on Thursday.
"A quarter of all criminal cases brought by military prosecutors focus on crimes abusing the rights and freedoms of military personnel and other citizens," he said.
Nikitin said that over 90 percent of such cases had been completed in courtroom.
He said that in 2003 over 45,000 checks had been performed, 18,000 of them focusing on the implementation of social protection legislation. Over 90,000 law violations were revealed and corrected, 13,000 recommendations were submitted, 16,000 military executives were brought to disciplinary responsibility, plus a third of them to material responsibility. The rights of over 230,000 people were restored.
These figures, the general said, applied to all armed authorities of Russia, not only the Defense Ministry.
According to Nikitin, military prosecutors supervise 12 state authorities having military personnel, and their work covers the social interests of over six million citizens: military personnel, their families, and military/special retirees eligible to special benefits.