Time is not an obstacle to justice. The head of the UCK for the city of Minsk told about resonant cases

On September 12, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus celebrates the 15th anniversary of its formation. About the work of the UCK in the city of Minsk and the disclosure of crimes of past years, the correspondent of the agency “Minsk-Novosti” told the head of the department Vladislav Lyubaskin.

Vladislav Alexandrovich, the Investigative Committee was established as a strong independent agency. What are the main results of its development over the past 15 years?

- It was established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus on September 12, 2011 in order to improve the system of pre-trial criminal proceedings. Over the years, the capital’s team has passed a serious path of formation, making a significant contribution to the strengthening of law and order in Minsk. Specialists of the department uncovered thousands of complex, high-profile crimes, defended the legitimate rights of citizens, provided assistance and support to those who faced injustice and crime. Today, the Committee is a single centralized system exercising powers in the field of pre-trial criminal proceedings. We firmly stand on the position of the inevitability of punishment: no crime should remain unsolved, and everyone who crossed the line of the law must be held accountable.

- The fairness of a judicial verdict depends on the quality of the preliminary investigation. A modern Minsk investigator, what is he?

A professional who stands guard every day. Our work requires not only high qualifications, but also full dedication - it is not limited to the silence of the office. In order to raise the professional bar, employees regularly participate in training sessions, where in practice they simulate the conduct of urgent investigative actions in various conditions. Young specialists under the guidance of experienced mentors learn to seize and procedurally fix evidence, as well as competently draw up documents.

At the same time, the metropolitan investigators are included in the public life of the city as much as possible. It has become a good tradition to participate in subbotniks, landscaping and landscaping of the iconic places of Minsk. For investigators, tournaments are held in football, ski racing, chess, volleyball, service all-around. Our teams consistently show high results, taking prizes.

- Is it possible to investigate past crimes? I mean, every year the leads melt.

- Time is not an obstacle to establishing the truth and bringing the perpetrators to justice. On the contrary, the disclosure of cases of past years has become one of the priority vectors of work, requiring filigree analysis of archival materials and the highest qualification from employees. We can find criminals who committed atrocities 20 or 30 years ago. For example, recently Moscow investigators completed the proceedings in the high-profile case of 2009 on the robbery and brutal murder of a cashier at a currency exchange point on Varvasheni Street. The involvement of the Minsk citizen in the murder of the 43-year-old businessman committed in March 1995 has also been fully proven. The bloody body of a man with a slit throat was then found in the entrance of a high-rise building on M. Tank Street. During the inspection of the scene of the incident, the investigator drew attention to an important detail: the light bulb on the landing where the deceased lay was turned off. However, it did not burn out, but was just slightly twisted out of the cartridge. The officer instructed the expert to remove it. Examination showed that the victim suffered 14 brutal blows to the head and at least four cuts in the neck. Death came from brain hemorrhage and acute blood loss. Later, in 2008, the forensic database gave a match: the fingerprints on that light bulb belonged to a close friend and colleague of the ex-wife of the deceased, with whom she had already signed. During interrogations, the man confidently parried suspicions: they say, he often visited this apartment, and left a trail when he changed the burnt out light bulb. Due to a lack of evidence, he was not prosecuted. The point in the protracted case, criminologists set in 2025 due to the development of technology. The conducted examinations proved that if the light bulb worked in the usual mode, the fatty traces would evaporate from the hot glass in a few hours. But they are perfectly preserved, which means that the defendant deliberately twisted her on the night of the murder. Under the weight of irrefutable evidence, the 66-year-old Minsk man confessed everything.

What is the current situation with cybercrime in the capital? Are prevention measures effective?

- Despite the colossal proactive work, gullible citizens regularly get into the networks of virtual scammers. The figures speak for themselves: since the beginning of 2026, Minsk investigators have opened more than 2,500 criminal cases on crimes in the field of information and communication technologies. The growth of these criminal statistics is largely facilitated by the mass introduction of computer systems and non-cash payments into everyday life. At the same time, fraudsters are developing new sophisticated scenarios of deception. The main factors complicating the fight against online scammers are the cross-border nature of crimes, their high latency, the availability of technology and human credulity. Typically, the attacks are well-organized syndicates whose call centers are technically equipped abroad. There, outside the country, immediately withdraw all stolen capital, which significantly complicates the compensation of material damage to the victims. In order to effectively counteract the threat, the leadership of the USC in the city of Minsk implements a set of preventive and tactical measures for the rational distribution of forces and means. A specialized department has been successfully operating in the capital, and specific officers have been assigned to investigate this category of cases in all district departments. All of them regularly undergo internships and improve their skills.

- In recent years, Minsk investigators have demonstrated success in the speed of work: almost half of criminal cases are completed within one month. How does the bar hold?

- In the first half of the year, it was possible to significantly increase the proportion of criminal cases promptly completed in the order of accelerated production. Timely organizational and practical measures made it possible to qualitatively disperse the flywheel of the preliminary investigation without losing the depth of work. But most importantly, it was possible to compensate citizens and the state over 23 million rubles of material damage.

Photo provided by UCK for the city of Minsk