Details

Working visit to the NRW region of Germany by a delegation from the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Published: November 19, 2018
At the Administrative Court (VerfGH) for NRW: Jogan Merkel (2nd from left), member of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Dr. Ricarda Brandts, President of the VerfGH/ OVG NRW (on his right)
At the Administrative Court (VerfGH) for NRW: Jogan Merkel (2nd from left), member of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Dr. Ricarda Brandts, President of the VerfGH/ OVG NRW (on his right)
Kazakhstan

From 7 to 9 November 2018, a high-ranking delegation from the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan visited North Rhine-Westphalia to find out about the protection of constitutional and human rights in Germany.

The first ports of call for the working visit were the Administrative Court (“Verfassungsgerichtshof or VerfGH”) and Higher Administrative Court (“Oberverwaltungsgerichtshof or OVG”) for North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster. The delegation was welcomed by the President of both courts, Dr. Ricarda Brandts, and informed about the tasks and responsibilities of the VerfGH and OVG at regional level. OVG judge Holger Wöckel gave a report on administrative jurisdiction in Germany. At the express request of the Kazakh guests, the right of assembly was also explained and was the subject of lively discussions.

The delegation was welcomed to the Ministry of Justice for NRW in Düsseldorf by ministerial advisor Dr. Christian Reitemeier. The presentation of the new law on individual constitutional complaints in NRW, which will come into force on 1 January 2019, was met with great interest. The new provisions were introduced by the author himself, Dr. Andreas Klenke, who is a judge at the OVG Higher Administrative Court.

At the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Wuppertal, Senior Public Prosecutor Wolf-Tilmann Baumert reported on the protection of human rights in criminal proceedings. Jogan Merkel, a member of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan and strongly involved in the fundamental reforms of the code of criminal procedure and the criminal code of the RK as the long-term First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, made the most of the opportunity to obtain comprehensive information on the subject.

To round off the study visit, the participants visited a law firm. Holger Hembach, a lawyer who has been advising on fundamental and human rights and especially on complaints submitted to the ECtHR for the past 20 years, gave a report on his many years of professional experience.

As a follow-up to the working visit, a representative of the Constitutional Council produced an extensive report on the results of the study visit, which has been delivered to the President’s office of the Republic of Kazakhstan.