MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI) - State Duma lawmaker Yury Sinelshchikov proposes to significantly expand power of prosecutors at a pre-trial stage, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

In a 2007 reform, an investigator’s authority was separated from that of the prosecutor’s whose duty was restricted to enforcing compliance with the law. Prosecutors currently have no authority to open criminal cases. The Prosecutor General has repeatedly stated that this function must be returned to the prosecutor’s office.

Sinelshchikov said amendments to the Criminal and Procedural Code are necessary because of “the substantially decreasing quality of preliminary investigations while the investigative branch’s workload decreases.”

The bill would grant prosecutors the authority to supervise a preliminary investigation, currently the duty of the heads of investigative bodies.

The bill also provides prosecutors with the right to initiate proceedings and investigate criminal cases when investigators or inquiry officers are excluded from a trial and also if they are suspended from an investigation due to procedural violations and cannot be replaced. The prosecutor would also be allowed to suspend an investigator.

Sinelshchikov also suggests that prosecutors be granted the power to provide investigators with written instructions on legal proceedings, and the suspension or dismissal of any criminal case. Additionally, investigators will have to obtain a prosecutor’s approval to file a petition on preventive measures for a defendant in a criminal case, including the cancellation or change thereof.