Kazakhstan: Supreme Court proposes to refer torture cases to jury trial

The Supreme Court of Kazakhstan proposes to expand the categories of cases considered by the court with the participation of jurors from 14 to 44. The relevant Regulatory Policy Advisory Document to the Draft Law “On amendments and additions to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan to expand the categories of cases considered by the court with the participation of juries” has been submitted for public discussion on the portal of open regulatory legal acts.

As explained in the accompanying note to the document, the basis for its development was the instructions of the President of the country in terms of expanding civil participation in the administration of justice and the categories of cases considered by the jury.

As the developers note, often the court cannot neglect the law for the sake of abstract justice. And this, as a rule, entails dissatisfaction with the quality of the administration of justice.

“The mistrust, that arises in civil society in the courts, is associated not only with clearly illegal judicial acts, but also with the need to sometimes exclude judicial discretion and be guided only by the framework of the law, which sometimes doesn’t allow making a decision that is fair in a commonly used concept,” they explain.

According to the developers, the resolution of this dilemma can and should be the expansion of the categories of cases considered by the jury. It’s worth recalling that this legal institution was created in Kazakhstan in 2007 and until 2015, the jurors were involved in consideration only of those cases in which the defendants faced the death penalty or life imprisonment.

In 2015, amendments to the legislation came into force, according to which the categories of cases considered by jurors were expanded into 4 compositions: kidnapping, human trafficking, involvement of a minor in criminal activities and juvenile trafficking – provided that these crimes were committed under aggravating circumstances.

In 2019, Kazakhstan adopted the law “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts on improving Criminal, Criminal Procedure Legislation and strengthening the protection of individual rights”. After its entry into force (from January 1, 2023), the jurors will be able to consider all cases of especially serious crimes, if a corresponding request is made from the defendant. And in general, the categories of cases considered by the jury will be expanded from January 1 next year from 14 to 30 compositions.

At the same time, the Supreme Court proposes to consider expanding the categories of cases considered by the jury trial to 44 compositions from January 1, 2024, including such crimes as torturing pregnant women and minors, torture, cattle theft, hooliganism with the use of weapons, illegal hunting and driving while intoxicated.

“In 2020, 944 criminal cases were received under the above articles, 717 cases were considered with a verdict (2.7% of the total number of cases were considered with a verdict). 996 persons were convicted (3.3% of the total number of convicted persons). In 2021, 801 criminal cases were received under the above articles, 658 cases were considered with a verdict (2.6% of the total number of cases were considered with a verdict). 993 persons were convicted (3.5% of the total number of convicted persons),” the developer explains the reasons that prompted this initiative.

It remains to be noted that according to official data, in 2020, 42 cases were heard by juries against 58 persons. 57 people were convicted, 1 was acquitted. In 2021, the jury trial heard 59 cases against 85 people; 78 of them we/wpacquitted.