OSCE Centre supports seminar on transition to new model of criminal justice in Kazakhstan

An effective functioning of the legal system, law enforcement practice and legislative development in light of ongoing criminal justice reform in Kazakhstan were among the topics of a three-day training seminar co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana that took place from 13 to 15 October 2014.

The event in Astana, organized jointly with the Prosecutor General’s Office, brought together some 80 parliamentarians, representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Supreme Court, the Interior and Justice Ministries, prosecutors as well as legal scholars and experts. More than 300 regional prosecutors throughout the country were participating in the seminar via video conference.  

The discussion focused on the most important novelties of the newly-adopted penitentiary and administrative codes and measures to be taken by law-enforcement agencies to effectively implement legal novelties.

Particular attention was paid to post-penitentiary control and social rehabilitation of convicts, the competence of law enforcement bodies for applying criminal and administrative sanctions, the new classification of penitentiary facilities. Discussions also highlighted the broader use of alternatives to incarceration and establishing a full-fledged probation service in Kazakhstan.

Provisions regulating the decrease of administrative fines for small businesses, administrative detention issues and simplifying administrative proceedings in cases of guilty pleas were also discussed.

This was the second training seminar for prosecutors supported by the Centre on the new model of criminal justice. The first event took place in September in Astana and involved more than 1,000 regional prosecutors via video conference. Both seminars were conducted as part of the Centre’s long-standing efforts in supporting the criminal justice system reform in Kazakhstan.