The author of the article determines the role of the prosecution in the activity of the prosecutor in maintaining the state accusation, indicates the rele-vance of the topic under investigation, which is due to the significance of the prosecution. All the activities of the public prosecutor in the trial of criminal cases in the court of first instance are based on prosecution. The purpose of the study is to clarify the essence of the prosecution and form on its basis the definition of public prosecution. To fulfill this goal, an analysis is made of the various points of view of scientists, as well as the provisions of legislative acts of the CIS member states. Particular attention is paid to the comparative-legal study of the criminal procedure legislation of the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. In the context of the activities of the Prosecutor's Office for the implementation of interna-tional legal cooperation, these concepts are explored within the framework of the Model Law of the CIS member states. Based on the results of the analysis of the provisions of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, the definition of public prosecution was formulated and presented. On the basis of the study, conclusions were drawn about the controversial nature of the term “prosecution” and the need to consider it in a broad sense, taking into account material and procedural significance.