There was a briefing on the modernization of the criminal process

August 24, 2017, Astana. At a briefing in the Central Communications Service, representatives of law enforcement agencies, courts and other state bodies disclosed the main approaches to reforming the criminal process and improving law enforcement.

Acting chairman of the Judicial division for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court Yerden Aripov, Deputy Prosecutor General Marat Akhmetzhanov and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Zhakupov took part in the event.

An Interdepartmental Working Group was established to develop approaches to reform on the instructions of the Head of State. It included the first leaders of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, law enforcement and special bodies. The foreign experience was studied with departure to the FRG, Great Britain, Estonia and Georgia.

Speakers stressed in their speeches that the proposed reform of the criminal process and law enforcement activities is a new stage in the policy pursued to ensure the rule of law. Much work in this direction was carried out within the framework of the practical implementation of Plan of Nation initiated by the Head of State.

In general, the reform is focused on the implementation of tasks to strengthen the protection of human rights in the criminal process, increase the adversarial nature of the parties, expand judicial control, and eliminate duplication and a clear distribution of powers between the investigative authorities, the prosecutor's office and the court.

Based on the outcome of the work, a number of proposals will be developed.

In particular, it is proposed to reduce the categories of crimes for which the measure of restraint is applied in the form of arrest. This primarily applies to economic crimes, except for those committed by criminal groups.

It is also proposed to shorten the period for bringing a detainee to court for choosing a preventive measure, to exclude the practice of collecting evidence beyond the scope of the criminal case being investigated.

Important thing is the innovation about giving lawyers more extensive rights to collect evidence, which will increase the adversarial nature of the criminal process at the pre-trial stage.

All these and other initiatives were included in the draft Law, the main directions of which, in general, were approved by the Head of State. The law is now at the stage of active development.

Press Service of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan