How to write a complaint to the prosecutor's office: sample and filing procedure

Grounds for filing a complaint

According to the provisions of Art.
10 Federal Law 2202-1, the prosecutor's office considers issues regarding applications, complaints and other requests related to violations of laws. Therefore, you should complain to the prosecutor’s office if there is non-compliance with legal requirements on someone’s part. You can file a complaint with the prosecutor, for example, about the inaction of the police, prosecutor or investigator. Detailed instructions on the procedure for considering citizens' appeals were approved by Order of the Prosecutor General's Office dated January 30, 2013 No. 45.

Who can you complain about?

Failure to comply with legal requirements and violation of human rights and freedoms can occur in a wide variety of life circumstances. Therefore, the circle of organizations and individuals whose actions (inactions) the prosecutor needs to complain about is practically unlimited. You can file a complaint with the prosecutor's office:

• to the employer;
• to the management company;
• on the actions of officials;
• to the tax office;
• for a doctor;
• for a notary;
• to the judge;
• for the teacher

and so on.

You can even complain about a prosecutor's office employee to a higher prosecutor. At the same time, you should be aware of the nuances, taking into account which you should contact the prosecutor’s office. For example, a complaint about non-execution of a court decision, if it is not executed voluntarily by the person against whom the decision was made, for example, on the payment of alimony, should be sent to the bailiff service. If, after such an appeal, the non-execution of the court decision is a consequence of insufficient measures taken by the bailiff, then you need to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office about the inaction of the bailiffs.

Nothing bad will happen if the complaint to the prosecutor is sent to the wrong address. In this case, the applicant will receive a notification from the prosecutor's office that the application will be forwarded to another agency within its competence. But if the issue requires an urgent solution, then the addressee should be chosen carefully.

How to write correctly

The legislation does not establish any detailed requirements for the form and content of complaints sent to prosecutors. Therefore, in order to correctly write a complaint to the prosecutor’s office, you need to be guided by the requirements of the Federal Law No.

05/02/2006 No. 59-FZ “On Citizens’ Appeals”. According to Part 1 of 59-FZ, in the application:

• indicate the name of the body or position and full name of the official, full name and postal address of the applicant to which the response will be sent (anonymous complaints are not considered by the prosecutor's office, in some cases a telephone and/or E-mail will also be required mail);
• the essence of the complaint and demands are stated (in this case, to conduct an inspection and, based on its results, take prosecutorial response measures);
• a personal signature and date are placed.

The application must be accompanied by materials that substantiate the essence of the complaint; these can be originals or copies of documents, photos and scans of smartphone and computer screens, audio and video materials.

Some believe that filing a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office is more effective than the same appeal to the district or city prosecutor's office, but this is not entirely true. Such an appeal will be transferred for consideration to the lower prosecutor's office within its competence. Of course, if the President or Prime Minister of the Russian Federation applies to the Prosecutor General’s Office, then such an appeal will not be sent anywhere.

We strongly advise you to contact a lawyer on our website to competently draw up a complaint and send it to the prosecutor. He has extensive practical experience in drawing up and sending complaints to the prosecutor's office, most of which have received positive results.

Procedure for consideration

In accordance with the provisions of current legislation, a complaint will remain unanswered if:

• its text cannot be read (in this case, the application cannot be forwarded to other government bodies). The author will be notified within 7 days of the inability to read the written text if it is possible to read the written address and full name;
• the applicant is declared incompetent due to mental illness, for which there is a corresponding court decision;
• the content of the complaint is meaningless;
• the text contains offensive or obscene language, as well as personal threats;
• anonymous complaints except in cases provided for by law (if the applicant reports facts of corruption, terrorist activities, etc.);
• To do this, you will have to disclose state secrets or information that is subject to protection and is not intended for public use. In this case, although the claim will be considered on its merits, the applicant will not be informed of the decision.

A registered document can be considered within 30 days if its content does not contradict the requirements of the law, and the resolution of the issue is within the competence of law enforcement agencies (otherwise the claim must be forwarded to another department or government agency). For a more substantive study of the issue (for example, when the initially allotted time was not enough to receive answers to the requests sent), the period for consideration of the complaint can be extended by another 30 days, provided that its author is promptly informed about the change in the deadline for making a final decision.

When filing a complaint in writing, its author has the right to expect to receive a response to his postal or email address, which he indicated when applying.

How to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office

As we have already found out, there is no particular point in complaining to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. In order to properly file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, you need to understand which agency of this department you should contact. Law 2202-1 says nothing about this, but Part 1 of Art. 8 59-FZ states that the appeal is sent to the body (official) whose competence includes resolving the issues raised in the appeal.

In practice, complaints, including collective complaints, are filed at the location of the person whose actions are being appealed, or at the place of residence (location) of the applicants. If necessary, the complaint will be forwarded within the department to the appropriate authority. According to clause 2.1 of Instruction 45, the prosecutor's office considers applications received:

• through the Internet;
• at a personal reception;
• by mail, telegraph, fax;
• through the media.

Online

Nowadays, filing a complaint with the prosecutor’s office online is not difficult at all. The only condition is that in order to send a complaint to the prosecutor’s office electronically, you need to have an account on the State Services portal. To file a complaint directly through State Services you should:

1. Log in to the portal.
2. Go to the section “Service for submitting citizens’ appeals to the prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation.”
3. Click on the “Submit an Appeal” link.
4. Fill out the appeal form, indicating the necessary information and outlining the essence of the complaint.
5. Click on the “Submit Appeal” button.

It is also possible to submit a complaint to the prosecutor's office via the Internet on the official website of the department. To do this you need:

1. Open the website of the Prosecutor General's Office.
2. Click on the menu item “Internet reception”.
3. Log in through the State Services portal.
4. Send a complaint to the prosecutor's office via the Internet according to the above described scheme.

The advantage of this method of sending an appeal is obvious: it can be done from home or office, and through a smartphone - from any place where there is Internet access.

During a personal visit

You can write an application to the prosecutor's office at a personal appointment with the department. The personal reception procedure is regulated by Section 7 of Instruction 45. Here are excerpts from this document:

• personal reception of citizens is carried out according to the approved schedule throughout the working day;
• the head of the prosecutor's office receives citizens at least once a week;
• a citizen who comes to a personal reception must present his passport to the employee receiving him;
• the content of the oral appeal is entered into the database or visitor registration book;
• o is placed on written applications, including on copies at the request of the applicant.

To avoid waiting in line, it is best to make an appointment in advance. This can be done on the State portal. The main advantage of a personal appointment is the opportunity to communicate with a specialist and receive clarification from him on all emerging issues related to the form and substance of the complaint.

By mail

Clause 2.1 of Instruction 45 provides for the consideration of complaints received by the prosecutor's office by mail. A signed statement must be enclosed in the mailing along with materials confirming the substance of the complaint.

Through the Internet reception

Each regional division has its own personal Internet resource, which provides contact information and information about the results of consideration of citizens’ applications. To use the Internet reception, you should go to the regional website, which can be done through the website of the Prosecutor General's Office www.genproc.gov.ru or through any search engine on the Internet.

To contact the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, you must use its Internet reception, which is located on the page https://www.mosproc.ru/ipriem/.

After the user has read the information provided, gives permission to process his personal data and selects the form in which he wants to receive a response to the results of consideration of his case (in writing or electronic form), he can begin filling out an online complaint, for which You will have to provide information of the following nature:

• the recipient, who should be selected from the proposed options (for example, Babushkinsky interdistrict prosecutor's office);
• a topic that most accurately describes the essence of the claim (protection of the rights of business entities, fight against corruption, notification of extremism, etc.);
• legal status of the applicant (individual or legal entity);
• contact information: full name, telephone number, email address, full postal address;
• the text of the message, which should briefly describe what was the reason for sending the complaint. It is important to accurately identify the participants in the incident and all the circumstances so that the examining prosecutor has enough information to make a decision.

Form of application to the Prosecutor's Office Form of application to the Prosecutor's Office Form of application to the Prosecutor's Office

Fields marked with “*” are required. But if the victim decides to choose e-mail as the method of delivering the response, then he will not have to indicate his postal address and vice versa.

If the victim has reliable confirmation of the facts that he stated in his message, then they can be attached in the form of electronic documents using the “Attach file” option.

After the control code has been correctly entered (several digits, which is necessary to protect against spam), you should click the “Submit” button, after which the completed form will be accepted by the system (this will be indicated by a corresponding notification), or the user will be asked to correctly indicate missing information, due to which the application cannot be accepted.

Despite the fact that the electronic forms of Internet receptions of other constituent entities of the Russian Federation may have a different structure and appearance, when filling them out, users indicate the same information and their contact details.

Important! If for some reason the user was unable to attach an electronic file to a message in the Internet reception, he can send such material by mail as an addition to a previously submitted claim.

How should the prosecutor's office respond to the appeal?

The complaint received by the prosecutor's office is considered and a preliminary decision is made on it according to one of the following options:

• accept for resolution;
• leave without permission;
• submit for permission to a lower authority;
• redirect to other authorities;
• terminate consideration;
• attach to a previously received appeal;
• return to the applicant.

If the appeal is accepted for resolution, the prosecutor's office conducts an investigation into the complaint. During the inspection, the prosecutor has the right to request documents and materials, gain access to institutions and organizations to verify compliance with the laws (Article 22 of Law 2202-1).

Based on the results of consideration of the complaint, the prosecutor's office will make a decision. If the inspection reveals violations of laws and/or the applicant’s rights, prosecutorial response measures are taken, including:

• protesting normative acts that contradict the law, going to court (arbitration court) with a demand to recognize such acts as invalid;
• submitting a proposal to eliminate violations of the law.

The response of the prosecutor's office to a citizen's complaint must contain information about the decision taken on it with justification, as well as about prosecutorial response measures, if such measures were taken.

Established deadlines and further actions

If the claim contains little information, representatives of the authorized body send a letter to the address specified by the applicant within a week. If the complaint is prepared correctly, a response is given within 7 days. The applicant will be notified that the claim has been accepted for consideration or forwarded. Additional authorities may be involved in the procedure. The person will also be informed about this. The process of reviewing applications takes 1 month. The corresponding norm is reflected in the current legislation.

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If the period is missed, filing a claim is acceptable. The paper is compiled according to the classical scheme. It is permissible to personally visit the city prosecutor's office and find out the reasons why the response was not received in a timely manner. By defending their rights and not letting things take their course, a citizen will be able to achieve justice.