The Supreme Court discussed the execution of the sentences

The highest judicial body of the country held an international "round table" on the topic: "Issues related to the execution of the sentence." The event was organized by the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation "IRZ" today.

The forum was attended by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Zhakupov, the judges of the Supreme and local courts, the representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the CCS, lawyers and others. In addition, there were experts from the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation in Kazakhstan – the judges of the German High Court of Land Arnd Weisshaupt and the Vice-President District Court of Frankfurt am Main Frank Richter. The moderator of the event was, Chairman of the Judicial Division for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court A. Rakhmetulin.

The participants of the "round table" discussed the issues of an early parole, execution of sentences and the activities of the penal enforcement system for the execution of sentences. Also the current judicial practice of substituting punishment, imposing a fine, consideration of the complaints of convicts in the order of execution of the sentence and remove the arrest from the property is considered.

Opening the "round table", A. Rakhmetulin noted the great importance of the topic of discussion, calling the stage of execution of the sentence the final logical stage of the criminal process. ‘The actions to ensure the beginning and actual implementation of decisions contained in the sentence are taken, various issues arising in the execution of the sentence are promptly resolved at this stage of the criminal procedure. Considering the representations of institutions and bodies executing punishment, petitions and applications of convicts, the court exercises control over the execution of sentences, observance of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of convicts,’ he said.

The latest reform of the criminal law contributed to a significant increase in the materials coming in the courts of this category. The number of such materials has increased by 28%. in the first year of the new laws already. There were more than 55,000 such materials, the vast majority of which were about an early parole and the substitution of punishment with lighter one in the production of courts during 9 months of this year. Totally, courts of the republic considered 7 108 materials on early parole for this period and 64.2% of them were satisfied.

The new legal norms laid down in the law have operated. So, the courts began actively to appoint such kind of punishment, as fine. The proportion of persons convicted of fines for all criminal offenses was 12% during the last six months of this year. The fine collected by the effective sentences exceeded 609 million KZT, of which more than 470 million KZT were assigned for corruption offenses.

The increase in the number of persons released from prison and the reduction of the "prison population" was facilitated by the new criminal legislation and the normative decree "On the judicial practice of early parole from serving a sentence, substitution of the unserved part of the sentence with a milder form of punishment and reducing the term of the appointed one punishment " adopted in 2015. A thorough review of judicial practice is conducted on the concerned issue and common errors and exception from the law due to improper use are analyzed on a regular basis.

A. Rakhmetulin highlighted that courts are the flagship of the introduction of new information technologies in the process of administration of justice for today. The Supreme Court initiated the equipping of correctional facilities with videoconferencing systems (VCS). Today CCS is 100% equipped with VCS. This saves time and financial costs and also has a beneficial effect on compliance with the general security regime. The courts examined more than 10 thousand materials with the institutions of CCS not transferring the convicts via VCS during 9 months of this year.

According to the approved agenda, the speeches of the judges of the Supreme Court Gaziza Mussabekova on the consideration by the courts of petitions of the early parole, Serik Abnasirova on execution of sentences, the first deputy chairman of the Committee of Correction System of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Bekbulat Turemuratov on the activities of the CCS on the execution of sentences were delivered. The head of the 2nd Management of the General Prosecutor's Office Serikzhan Myrzaly told about the supervision in the sphere of execution of sentences. In addition, a number of judges of local courts of various levels made reports. Arnd Weissaupt informed about the current practice of releasing of convicts from further serving their sentence under German law as well as resolving the issues related to the execution of the sentence. Frank Richter talked about some issues in the execution of the sentence and the activities of the criminal executive chambers of Germany. The lawyer of Astana, Amanzhol Mukhamedyarov delivered a report on the issues of providing access to qualified legal assistance at the stage of execution of the sentence.

During the event, an active and rich exchange of views took place. Based on the results of the roundtable the relevant recommendations taking into account all voiced opinions were adopted. These recommendations will be posted on the website of the Supreme Court and sent to all the interested structures to concern in work.