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Kyrgyz Judiciary Embraces Civil Society Recommendations on Uniform Judicial Practices

Kyrgyz Judiciary Embraces Civil Society Recommendations on Uniform Judicial Practices

The USAID-IDLO Trusted Judiciary program in the Kyrgyz Republic is set to achieve another success in promoting uniform judicial practices. The Supreme Court’s Plenum has started adopting the recommendations of the civil society’s analysis of court decisions, which was supported by the program.

Under the program, IDLO has been supporting a civil society initiative by which a group of lawyers and academics analyzed the judicial acts on various categories of cases published on the specialized website for publication of judicial decisions. Roundtables were also organized, with the participation of the Supreme Court chairwoman and judges, as well as judges from lower instances.

The analysis was carried out over a period of five months. It covered about 753 acts (339 civil cases and 414 criminal cases). The findings showed that overall, judges generally comply with the rules of substantive and procedural law, including in the reasoning part. However, there are some discrepancies in the interpretation of the norms of substantive and procedural law, as well as some flaws in the preparation of judicial acts. The findings also showed the need for finalizing some of the decisions of the Supreme Court’s Plenum as well as for developing new decisions on certain categories of cases.

The judiciary did not only take the recommendations into consideration but started adopting them through Supreme Court’s Plenum decisions. A compelling example is that of the category of court decisions on the application of pledge legislation, where most recommendations were included in the Plenum’s decree on May 27, 2019.

Looking forward, the Supreme Court plans to develop new resolutions based on the recommendations related to extremism in criminal cases involving illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as well as in criminal cases on certain types of property crimes.

The USAID-IDLO Trusted Judiciary program aims at increasing public trust in the judiciary as an independent branch of power that protects citizen’s rights and upholds the rule of law in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Kyrgyz Students Received First-hand Insights into Canadian Legal Clinics

Kyrgyz Students Received First-hand Insights into Canadian Legal Clinics

Law students of International Ala-Too University in Bishkek got a great opportunity to hear about legal clinics and law practice in Canada on the guest lecture of Mr. Muhammad Zubair, a Canadian lawyer interning at IDLO in Kyrgyzstan on March 14, 2019.

The presentation focused on a range of topics including the composition and areas of law practiced in legal clinics and the structure of civil and criminal cases in Canada. Mr. Zubair also shared some case management tips and tools with the students, as well as general advice for young professionals about to embark on their careers.

«I believe legal clinics can play an integral role in strengthening the legal and educational systems in Kyrgyzstan»,  — shared his thoughts Mr.  Zubair

Legal clinics are excellent establishments because they have multiple benefits:

  • to the community  — they provide free legal aid and basic legal education to members of the public who cannot afford lawyers;
  • to the universities  — they provide practical, hands-on experience for law students to work on real cases and help real clients;
  • to the legal system  — they help lighten the burden on the courts by helping people mediate and settle matters privately out of court;
  • to society as a whole  — they produce better-trained lawyers who have hands-on experience, they can lead to a better-informed public that knows their rights and they can lead to a less burdened, more efficient court system.

«The students were attentive and engaged and asked questions about interesting legal files I had worked on as well as career advice regarding mentorship opportunities and internships. I was impressed with their level of engagement and the interest they showed in the subject matter.»

Muhammad has worked at legal clinics in the U.S. and Canada as a law student, supervisor and a training lawyer. He has learned a great amount from his time in the clinics and from his mentors and is a big believer in the positive role legal clinics have in society.

Judges are trained on new codes

Judges are trained on new codes

More than 200 first instance judges had the opportunity to get the answers on their practical questions from experienced judge-trainers about enforcing the new criminal law codes in effect since January 1, 2019.

In February 2019 the INL-IDLO Criminal Law Enforcement Capacity Building Program launched a series of training for judges of the Kyrgyz Republic “Actual problems of criminal and criminal procedure legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic” in in the cities of Bishkek and Osh as well as in the Issyk-Kul region.

The two-day seminars held in an interactive way as a discussion of problematic and controversial issues on the new criminal codes involved 203 judges.

The main goal of the seminars is to develop a unified judicial practice and create a platform for the communication of judges, where they can discuss issues of relevance to the profession.

The lecturers of the seminar were: Sydykov A.Sh. – Judge of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic,  Vorontsova I.N. – Chairman of the Bishkek City Court; Kulbayev A.K. – Ph.D., associate professor, member of the expert working group on the development of draft laws on criminal and criminal procedure legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Djakupova: The Supreme Court has Matured to Assess Itself

Djakupova: The Supreme Court has Matured to Assess Itself

On November 30, there was a discussion of a study to assess the level of satisfaction of participants in court proceedings, which the judicial system launches on December 10 in the courts of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The discussion was attended by representatives of the judiciary, legal and academic fields and civil society.

The judge of the Sverdlovsk court, Inara Gilyazetdinov, introducing the questionnaire participants to the roundtable, said that the process of developing questions aimed at identifying the satisfaction index had taken into account the experience of other countries, in particular, Finland, the Netherlands, and the USA.

“This study is not aimed at assessing the level of satisfaction with the courts of all citizens, but of the participants in the judicial process,” said Judge Gilyazetdinova.

Director of the Adilet Legal Clinic Cholpon Dzhakupova noted the importance of the participation of the academic community at the preliminary stage of developing the toolkit and provided detailed comments and suggestions on the completed questionnaires.

“The questionnaire does not contain questions, the answers to which would reflect the real level of independence of the judicial system, and this is one of the most problematic issues of the judicial system. This is a problem not only for the participants in the trials but also for the judges themselves, ”said Dzhakupova.

The human rights activist also noted that the study of the level of satisfaction indicates an increase in courage on the part of the judicial system, that the Supreme Court has matured to develop tools and evaluate itself through the eyes of the participants in the judicial process.

Ainura Usupbekova, Director of PF “Civil Platform”, commenting on the study, told the participants that such a study can serve mainly as a self-diagnosis of the judicial system. As Usupbekova noted, the range of research questions includes the procedural aspects of the courts and will give an intermediate result before an extensive study on the credibility of the judicial system.

The survey to assess the level of satisfaction of participants in the trials will be held in 25 courts of the Kyrgyz Republic. Its main goal is to bring an objective picture of the level of satisfaction of participants in court proceedings with the work of the courts and to identify which aspects of their work the judicial system should improve.

The study is being conducted by the Judicial System of the Kyrgyz Republic with the support of the USAID-IDLO Trust to Court program.

 [This content was automatically translated from the Russian language]

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Students Make Court Decisions

Students Make Court Decisions

Law students from 10 universities in Kyrgyzstan tested their ability to make high-quality and fair court decisions as part of the III Republican contest for drafting judicial acts, held on November 27, 2018, in Bishkek with the participation of 30 contestants-students and representatives of the judiciary.

The best team of jury recognized the students of KNU. Z. Balasagyn, the second place was taken by the team of the International University of Central Asia, and the third – by the International University of Kyrgyzstan.

“You are our replacement in the future, we are counting on you,” judge Nurgul Asanov, judge, deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic, welcomed the contestants, noting the importance of the ability to prepare high-quality judicial acts.

The competition was held in the format of the game, each team studied one conditional civil case on the topic: “Loan and pledge”, prepared a draft court decision within the prescribed time, and then presented them to the competition jury, which determined the winners.

According to the organizers, the competition is aimed at strengthening legal education, and its main goal is to increase the capacity of the legal community in the field of administration of justice, improve the quality of training of specialists in the field of jurisprudence, and popularize the website act.sot.kg as a tool for work in the student and academic communities.

“For the first time I take part in such a competition and I really liked it. I used to have no practice, but now I know how to draw up court decisions, what needs to be pointed out, what needs to be paid attention to, what articles need to be guided by. This is very important for law students, it is a great contribution to us. We would like such competitions to be held more often, ”said Bazargul Kurbanova, a student at the Osh State Law Institute.

The competition, held in the building of the International University of Kyrgyzstan, was attended by 10 teams from 10 universities of the country – the Kyrgyz National University. J. Balasagyn, Kyrgyz State Law Academy, Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, American University of Central Asia, International University of Kyrgyzstan, International University of Central Asia, Ata-Turk Ala-Too International University, Osh State Law Institute, Academy law, business, and education Jalal-Abad.

The third Republican competition for drafting judicial acts was organized jointly with the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Association of Legal Clinics of Kyrgyzstan in the framework of the Trust to Court program implemented by the IDLO Kyrgyzstan branch with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

[This content was automatically translated from the Russian language]