Constitutional Court: a convicted person has the right to receive legal and medical assistance
Теlegram CС - https://t.me/consot_kz
The Constitutional Court considered the appeal of a citizen on verification of the compliance with the Constitution of the second part of Article 109, subparagraph 2) of the first part of Article 134 of the Criminal Executive Code (CEC) and paragraph 104 of the Internal Regulations of the institutions of the penal enforcement system, approved by Order of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan from November 17, 2014 № 819.
The reason for the appeal to the Constitutional Court was the refusal of the convicted person to receive legal assistance by telephone while in the disciplinary isolation ward of the penal enforcement system.
According to the subject of the appeal, the challenged norms on the ban on telephone conversations violate his constitutional right to defend himself by all means not contrary to the law, in particular his right to receive qualified legal or medical assistance.
The Constitutional Court stated the following.
The right of everyone to receive qualified legal assistance, enshrined in the Constitution, shall not be subject to restriction in any case.
Restrictions on the rights of convicts who have violated the established procedure for serving their sentence are not contrary to the Constitution, provided that they do not degrade human dignity and are established only at the level of laws, and are proportionate to the violation committed.
As a result of the verification, the Constitutional Court interpreted the provisions of Article 109, Article 134 of the Penal Enforcement Code and paragraph 104 of the Rules in a manner consistent with the Constitution, indicating that these norms do not limit the right of a convicted person to make a telephone call in order to receive qualified legal or medical assistance while under strict conditions of serving a sentence, as well as while in a disciplinary isolation cell as a punishment.
The full text of the CC normative ruling is available at the following link https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/ksrk/documents/details/770974?lang=en