Within the context of the development of new legislation for public prosecutors, which is currently being prepared in Kazakhstan, a working visit on the subject of the “criminal investigation procedure” took place on 23 and 24 May 2017 in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK).
In view of the great interest in German legislation and legislative practice, the delegation was made up of high-ranking representatives of various authorities. The following institutions were represented:
President’s office
Constitutional Council
Public Prosecutor General’s Office
Supreme Court
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Parliament
Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Agency
National Security Committee
State Revenue Committee at the RK Ministry of Finance
Within the framework of the working visit, talks were held at the police headquarters, Public Prosecutor’s Office and at the local court, all in Frankfurt/Main, and at the Hessian Ministry of Justice in Wiesbaden.
The direct and practically-oriented exchange of experiences with public prosecutors, judges and police officers was particularly important to the Kazakh partners. This provided the delegation with an opportunity to learn at first hand about how the criminal investigation procedure works in Germany.
Further consultations on the application of the new standards under the code of criminal proceedings of Kazakhstan are planned in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor General’s Office throughout the year.
In cooperation with the Constitutional Council, the Public Prosecutor General's Office and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an international conference on “Efficient penal policy and the ideal criminal proceedings model as a priority for the development of a modern legal protection system” was held on 17 and 18 March 2017 in Ak Bulak, near Almaty.
The conference was opened with a session on “The principles of case law and its role in protecting human rights and freedoms in criminal proceedings.” Subsequent panels dealt with the investigation process, the registration of business offences and their investigation and the modernisation of criminal sanctions in the fight against individual crimes in IT, business and corruption. The second day of the conference was devoted to the topic “Establishing criteria for the classification of criminal offences and crimes”.
Participants in the conference included high-ranking Kazakh representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Constitutional Council, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, the Supreme Court, the Parliament, the Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs and Finance and many international partners.
Lectures were given by various speakers from the European Council, the OSCE, the Venice Commission, a judge from the Netherlands and the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. The IRZ, supported by an institutional grant from the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, was represented by three experts in the field. Christian Roch, a judge at the Local Court of Sonthofen attending as the director’s permanent representative, gave a lecture on the particularities of legal proceedings for criminal offences. In a second lecture, he spoke about the classification of offences and crimes in German criminal law. Kristina Kunert, a judge at the Local Court of Tiergarten in Berlin, outlined the main enforcement measures in criminal proceedings and their legal requirements. In her second lecture, she discussed the registration of criminal charges and the legal regulations for documenting procedures. The former public prosecutor specialising in the fight against corruption, Professor Bijan Nowrousian from the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and Management of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster, presented the investigation process for corruption and economic offences. His second lecture dealt with protecting trade secrets and the interests of the companies concerned. The German contributions were met with great interest from the participants. After the conference, Christian Roch and Bijan Nowrousian were invited to a consultation with the RK Public Prosecutor General, Zhakyp Assanov, and his First Deputy, Jogan Merkel, in Astana. This two-hour meeting dealt with the drafting of the new legislation for public prosecutors. The focus was on the position of public prosecutors in German criminal proceedings and above all in relation to the police. Based on their professional experience as a judge and public prosecutor, the German experts reported on the legal situation and legal practice in Germany.
To conclude, following the 2015 reforms of the code of criminal procedure for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the decision-making process for optimising and applying the new legal standards will be continued.
Within the context of the international exhibition EXPO2017, which is due to take place in Astana this year, the IRZ organised in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan a study visit on the subject “Law and security at airports”, which was held from 28 February to 2 March in Frankfurt/Main and Braunschweig. The delegation was made up of a representative from the main traffic public prosecutor's office for the RK, two representatives from the air traffic public prosecutor’s office in Astana and a representative from the Public Prosecutor General’s office for the Republic of Kazakhstan.
With the support of the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, it was possible to organise visits to the Federal Police Headquarters at Frankfurt/Main airport and to the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung or BFU) in Braunschweig.
The tour began with the Kazakh guests paying a visit to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt for expert discussions. Senior Public Prosecutor Dr. Albrecht Schreiber explained how public prosecutors lead investigations in the event of aircraft accidents, bomb threats and attacks and then answered questions from the participants.
At the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU), the Director Ulf Kramer presented the activities and tasks of the BFU. Accident investigator Jens Friedemann discussed technical issues. In the afternoon, there followed a visit to the testing laboratory and the hall where parts of wreckage are stored. Here there was a detailed look at the practical aspect of establishing the cause of aircraft accidents.
At the Federal Police Headquarters at Frankfurt/Main airport, the delegation was welcomed by Department Director Michael Dewenter. Thomas Reinke and Karsten Täschner introduced the organisation and tasks of the German police force. This was followed by an introduction to the tasks of the main customs office by section head Uta Ruge. In the afternoon, the delegation was given a practical briefing on passenger aviation security checks as well as on the automatic border control “EasyPASS”.
The leader of the Kazakh delegation suggested a follow-up event on the same subject in Astana and invited the German speakers to attend.