Kazakhstan will toughen punishment for corruption and pedophilia

In Kazakhstan, the responsibility of the first Heads of departments for corruption offenses of their subordinates will be legislatively consolidated. The order was given by the country’s President Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev in his first message to the people.

 According to Tokaev, the issue of a systemic fight against corruption is topical. “It is necessary to restore anti-corruption expertise of draft regulatory legal acts of central and local bodies with the participation of experts and the public,” Tokaev said in his message. “The responsibility of the first Head of the agency in which the corruption crime occurred should be legislatively and normatively regulated. It is also necessary to provide for strict liability of employees of the anti-corruption bodies themselves for illegal methods of work and provocative actions. They should not have a place in investigative practice.”

Tokaev also said that Kazakhstan was overly carried away by the humanization of criminal law, while completely losing sight of the fundamental rights of citizens.

“We have moved away from excessive and repressive measures and harsh punitive practices of justice,” he emphasized. “At the same time, numerous serious crimes still occur in the country. It’s urgently necessary to tighten the penalties for sexual violence, pedophilia, drug trafficking, human trafficking, domestic violence against women and other serious crimes against the individual, especially against children. This is my assignment to the Parliament and the Government.”