The judges of Zhambyl regional court told about reforms in criminal process

The Chairman of the Judicial Division for Criminal Cases of the Zhambyl Regional Court Nurmukhammat Abidov and the Judge Coordinator on Media Gulnar Syzdykova informed journalists about the modernization of the criminal process. The judges told what innovations that greatly simplify the interaction of the investigation, the prosecutor's office, the court and citizens have already been introduced and what innovations are planned to be introduced into the legal proceedings in the near future.

During the event, which was broadcast on the Internet online, N. Abidov noted one of the main directions of the modernization of the criminal process to increase the level of protection of human rights and freedoms. Among them, he called the reduction to 48 hours of the term of detention of a person without the sanction of the court, highlighting this significant step in approaching international standards. The speaker also talked about innovations in expanding the powers of investigative judges in pre-trial proceedings. "The accumulated experience of law enforcement allows us to improve the institution of judicial control, taking into account the international standards," N. Abidov said. As he explained, the speech first of all is about legislative consolidation of the court's powers to authorize secret investigative actions, which reflects the understanding of the need for real protection of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens in the criminal process.

N.Abidov also explained the main aspects of the reform aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the parties and empowering lawyers to directly address the investigative judge with an application for investigative actions, as well as avoiding duplication and clear distribution of powers between the investigative bodies, the prosecutor's office and the court.

During the briefing, the head of the department of information technologies and information resources protection of the regional court Mukhitdin Raimbekov informed about the implementation of the pilot project "Electronic criminal case" which started in the courts of the region on August 15 this year.

M.Raimbekov expressed confidence that the innovation will speed up the pace of carrying out both investigative actions and the consideration of cases in court. "This system removes many problems for today. Everything is transparent, the investigator cannot substitute or replace documents in the case because everything is fixed online. In addition, if it is necessary his management monitor online those investigative actions that he conducts and the prosecutor can also monitor him," he said.

In the speakers’ opinion of for the short period of the pilot project implementation, it has already shown such advantages of the electronic criminal case as efficiency, transparency, saving of time, human resources and budget resources and most importantly, all of this takes place with strict observance of the rights and interests of the participants in the criminal process at all its stages which in their turn will find a positive public attitude to it.

At the end of the briefing, the speakers answered questions from journalists who admitted that reforming the criminal process would increase transparency and strengthen the human rights mechanism in criminal proceedings.