OSCE Centre supports seminar for judges on conducting fair trials

ASTANA, 13 October 2009 - A two-day seminar co-organized by the OSCE Centre for Kazakhstani judges to discuss international fair trial standards started in Astana today. 

Some 40 participants from the Supreme Court and local courts in Kazakhstan will discuss international instruments and norms on the prohibition of torture, as well as mechanisms to deal with allegations of torture and ill-treatment in criminal proceedings and court examinations. The seminar will also focus on the procedure for issuing arrest warrants by courts which was introduced in Kazakhstan in 2007, and best practices in the work of jury trials.

"The OSCE participating States have committed themselves to the eradication of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and this seminar aims to support efforts in this area," said Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana. "In light of recent efforts by the Kazakhstani authorities, namely the ratification of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, the OSCE Centre hopes that special attention will be paid to providing procedural safeguards during detention and prohibiting the use of evidence obtained by torture, as well as to investigating and prosecuting acts of torture."

He added that further improvements to the mechanism of judicial authorization of arrest to ensure fundamental rights and compliance with international norms were crucial.

The seminar participants will prepare a list of recommendations for the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan to initiate the adoption of a special normative resolution on the application of relevant national legislation and international norms.

The seminar was co-organized by the OSCE Centre with the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan and the local non-governmental organization the Charter for Human Rights. It is a part of the Centre's project to train judges on international human rights standards, conducted at the request of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan. Seminars for local judges in Uralsk in western Kazakhstan and in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, were also held.