Visit to the Regional Court of Kempten: the Kazakh delegation with Dr. Johann Kreuzpointner (centre), President of the Regional Court of Kempten Kazakhstan
In partnership with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a working visit on family law took place from 4 to 6 December 2018 in Sonthofen and Kempten. Six judges from various regions of Kazakhstan took part in this study visit.
The delegation visited the Local Court of Sonthofen, the Regional Court of Kempten and the City Youth Welfare Office in Kempten.
The context of the visit was the planned introduction of family courts in Kazakhstan. The event began with the participants being given an overview of German family law. The focus here was on the work of family courts in children’s matters and the cooperation between family courts and youth welfare offices. The programme also focussed on juvenile criminal law and the work of juvenile legal aid.
The direct discussions with German family judges, social education workers and employees of the youth welfare office were of particular interest to the delegation. Many practical issues were explained during these discussions.
A follow-up event is scheduled to take place at the beginning of 2019 in Kazakhstan.
In partnership with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its Law Academy, the IRZ organised a seminar on “Electronic evidence in criminal proceedings” in Astana on 19 November 2018. Since this subject is currently highly topical, around 90 people attended the event.
The IRZ was represented by three German speakers:
Senior Public Prosecutor Andreas May, head of the Centre for Combating Cyber Crime at the office of the Public Prosecutor General in Frankfurt/M, gave a lecture on the legal requirements for collecting evidence and using electronic evidence in criminal investigation and main proceedings.
Peter Jentsch, an investigator in the 31/2 (Internet Investigations) department at the Saxony State Office of Criminal Investigations, started by showing a short video on the initial attack and follow-up measures in connection with electronic technology. During his subsequent lecture, he went into detail on the potential for data backup during a search and on the prevention of data loss and data manipulation. Afterwards, the video was evaluated and discussed by the participants with the help of a questionnaire.
Regional court judge Jens Schiminowski, a researcher for the 4th criminal division of the German Federal Court of Justice, presented the courts of appeal in Germany and described the procedural requirements and investigation procedure during his lecture.
A follow-up event on the same subject is planned for next year.
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.
