The Academy of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic launched a Mock court program for its students with the help of the INL-IDLO Criminal Law Enforcement Capacity Building Program. It involves students in role-playing games on the criminal process and provides hands-on training delivered by experienced teachers and judges.

“Our cadets are our future,” said Nurlan Djumashev, Academy’s Deputy Head. “We teach them the new [Criminal] Codes, and it possible that these young professionals might start teaching the experienced workers of the system, like us.”

The INL-IDLO Program helped the Academy in equipping its Mock court room and adopting the academic discipline. The first stream of students will take this course from March to May 2019, with a credit at the end. Highly qualified teachers include the Academy’s Associate Professor Tynychbek Osmonaliev and the Bishkek Sverdlov District Court’s Judge Almaz Kasymbekov.

Undergraduates of the Academy and of other higher educational institutions will take part at the National Mock court competition on the criminal process in May-June 2019. They will be judged by the judges of the Supreme Court, head of Universities, and representatives of the INL-IDLO Program.

The MIA Academy is the fourth higher education institution of the Kyrgyz Republic to adopt this international practice in its academic curriculum. With the help of US Government funded IDLO Program, academic judicial criminal and/or civil process courses are taught at the Kyrgyz National University, the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, and the International University of Kyrgyzstan