Procurator-General of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

the highest official of the Procurator’s Office of the USSR. The procurator-general heads the system of the agencies of the Procurator’s Office and directs their activity throughout the country. After the establishment of the Procurator’s Office of the USSR (1936), its director was called the procurator of the USSR until 1946 and after 1946, the procurator-general of the USSR.

According to the Constitution of the USSR of 1936, the procurator-general of the USSR, directly and through the procurators subordinate to him, exercises on behalf of the state the highest supervision over the accurate execution of the laws by all ministries, departments and the institutions and enterprises subordinate to them, and executive and administrative bodies of local soviets and cooperative organizations. The procurator-general also supervises the accurate execution of the laws by officials and citizens. The procurator-general of the USSR is appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for seven years and is given the official rank of State Councillor of Justice. The deputy procurator-general of the USSR and the head military procurator are appointed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the recommendation of the procurator-general of the USSR. The procurator-general of the USSR appoints the procurators of the union republics and, on their recommendations, the procurators of autonomous republics, krais, oblasts, and autonomous oblasts. He issues orders and instructions that are mandatory for all agencies of the Procurator’s Office and gives directives on limiting the competence of the agencies of the Procurator’s Office.

The procurator-general of the USSR has the right to submit to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR reports on questions that have to be resolved in a legislative manner or that call for interpretation of the law. He may also submit to the plenary session of the Supreme Court of the USSR reports giving guiding interpretations to the courts. The participation of the procurator-general of the USSR in plenary sessions of the Supreme Court of the USSR is mandatory. He has the right to remove any case from any court for verification, to lodge a protest against any court’s sentence, decision, ruling, or decree that is res judicata, or to stop the case until its resolution by means of supervision.

The title of procurator-general is conferred on the chiefs of the agencies of the procurator’s office in several socialist states, such as the German Democratic Republic, Poland, and Rumania. In Bulgaria the procurator’s office is headed by the chief procurator and in Hungary by the supreme procurator.