ON CLARIFYING THE SUBJECT OF PENITENTIARY OVERSIGHT BY THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE ON A RANGE OF ACTS

The subject matter of the penitentiary oversight of the Prosecutor's Office in terms of the range of acts includes: Universally recognised (i.e. recognised by the vast majority of states) norms (principles) of international law in terms of establishing basic natural (inalienable) human rights, including in relation to persons held in places of detention and (or) serving measures of detention, which are part of the Russian Federation legal system and are directly incorporated into Russian national law: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966. Constitution of the Russian Federation. Duly ratified international treaties and agreements, which may be divided into two groups A) duly ratified multilateral international treaties and agreements (conventions). B) bilateral treaties and agreements on international legal assistance (cooperation) in terms of defining the procedure and conditions of extradition (transfer) of convicts for serving the sentence and other measures of compulsory isolation, as well as application of measures of preliminary isolation from society to those suspected or accused of committing a crime. Some 60 such treaties have now been ratified. At the national legislative level, the Office of the Procurator-General also supervises implementation of and compliance with federal laws, in addition to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The laws may be conventionally divided into two groups. The first includes laws directly regulating the execution (serving) of penitentiary isolation measures. The second group covers laws that regulate activities directly related to compulsory isolation, as well as the activities of state bodies and institutions for which the execution of sentences serves as an additional function to the main activity. The next set of laws and regulations that form the subject matter of the penitentiary oversight of the Public Prosecutor's Office are the subordinate laws and regulations. The subject is covered by by-laws of both general and departmental nature. The main peculiarity of determining the scope of supervision in relation to departmental acts is that, on the one hand, the prosecutor supervises the implementation and compliance with the requirements contained in these acts, on the other hand, they themselves serve as a subject of supervision in terms of their compliance with the legislation in force. In this regard, the adoption of key ones usually requires the approval of the Prosecutor's Office, represented by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation or relevant subordinate prosecutors.