Petra Bertelsmeier, a former Senior Public Prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor General's Office in Frankfurt; Helene Philippsen, IRZ Project Manager; Ingrid Haussmann, a judge at the Higher Regional Court of Munich (from left to right)
The IRZ has been involved in the annual International Conference on Criminal Proceedings in Ak Bulak near Almaty since 2013. The theme of this year's conference is "Implementing constitutional standards to guarantee efficient criminal proceedings". The conference took place on 1 and 2 March 2018 in cooperation between the IRZ and the Constitutional Council, the Public Prosecutor General's Office and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The main focus was on
improving judicial monitoring in pre-trial procedures,
modernising case law and
the new role of public prosecutors in the criminal procedure of the Republic of Kazakhstan against the background of the constitutional reform that has taken place.
The IRZ, supported by an institutional grant from the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, was represented by lectures from two German experts. Petra Bertelsmeier, a former Senior Public Prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor General's Office in Frankfurt, gave a lecture on the duties of the public prosecutor's office in criminal investigations and on the role of the public prosecutor in criminal proceedings. Ingrid Haussmann, a judge at the Higher Regional Court of Munich, informed the audience about the powers of the court of law in pre-trial procedures. In an additional contribution, she presented the accelerated procedure in Germany.
High-ranking Kazakh representatives from the following institutions took part in the conference:
President's office,
Constitutional Council,
Public Prosecutor General's Office,
Supreme Court,
Parliament,
Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs and Finance,
Collegium of Lawyers and
Universities.
Also in attendance were the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kazakhstan, Rolf Mafael, and the Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, György Szabo.
The participants showed a great deal of interest in the German legal system. The role of public prosecutors in the investigation process was discussed particularly intensively.
To conclude, following further reforms of the code of criminal procedure for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the decision-making process for optimising and applying the new legal standards shall be continued.
Aziz Imangaliyev, Yerkin Baltabayev, Bayan Parmankulova, Dr. Malek Radeideh (BMJV), Adilkhan Zhakenov (from left to right)
On 21 and 22 November 2017, a delegation from the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan visited Berlin to learn about the “Challenges of prosecuting criminal and administrative offences”. The focus of the working visit organised by the IRZ was on the code on administrative offences.
The participants in the delegation were:
Yerkin Baltabayev, Deputy Director of the legislation department at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Aziz Imangaliyev, leading expert in the legislation department at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Adilkhan Zhakenov, leading expert in the legislation department at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and
Bayan Parmankulova, chief research associate at the Institute of Legislation in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, infringements of personal rights, public safety and public health and violations against legislative provisions, in particular with regard to the environment and use of resources and road transport, are penalised according to the Kazakh code on administrative offences.
The delegation was particularly interested in the following issues:
The legal foundations for imposing and implementing financial penalties,
The prosecution of administrative offences by the relevant authorities and the relevant local court and
Road traffic offences.
In connection with the delegation’s working visit, intense discussions were held at the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV), the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Berlin, the State Office for Residents' and Regulatory Affairs, the Local Court of Tiergarten and at the German Federal Bar.
The working visit by the Kazakh guests was a resounding success, not least because of the animated exchanges that took place with German experts.
Jogan Merkel; Dagmar Wünsch, permanent representative of the President of the Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court and Vice-President of the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate; Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate; Askhat Daulbayev; Nataliya Kress; Murassat Murtazin (from left to right)
From 8 to 10 November 2017, a working visit on “Constitutional jurisdiction of the federal states in Germany” took place at the Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court in Koblenz as part of the partnership with the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The delegation was made up of high-ranking representatives from the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan:
Askhat Daulbayev, Member of the Constitutional Council,
Jogan Merkel, Member of the Constitutional Council,
Murassat Murtazin, Advisor to the Chairman of the Constitutional Council and
Nataliya Kress, Lead Consultant for the department of legal expertise at the Constitutional Council.
During their working visit, the Kazakh guests had the opportunity to discuss various issues concerning constitutional jurisdiction at federal and regional levels in Germany with members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court.
The discussions during the working visit focussed in particular on the following topics:
The role of constitutional law in the Federal Republic of Germany;
Constitutional jurisdiction in Germany: Origins, function, responsibilities and processes;
Responsibilities of the German Federal Constitutional Court and of the Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court.
Issues concerning judicial independence and the principle of proportionality were of particular interest. In this context, the Kazakh guests took part in extremely lively discussions, particularly with regard to restrictions and deprivations of liberty.
Another focal point of the discussions was the institution of individual constitutional complaints, above all in light of their legitimacy and their justification. This issue is extremely relevant given the fact that this kind of appeal procedure is completely unknown in the Kazakh legal system.
The exchange with German colleagues in this field and the valuable knowledge gained as a result should in future influence the development of constitutional jurisdiction in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh delegation repeatedly made this clear and expressed their desire for the exchange of expertise to continue.
The Kazakh guests suggested a further cooperation in this field within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding. Their German counterparts were favourable to this suggestion and are taking this possibility into consideration with the support of the IRZ.
