OSCE Centre in Astana launches seminars for judges on human rights protection at pre-trial stages

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 21 October 2011 – The first of three OSCE-supported training seminars for local judges to promote human rights protection at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings through better judicial review was launched in Almaty today.

Local court judges from all regions of Kazakhstan, prosecutors, advocates and representatives of human rights non-governmental organizations will discuss how to choose between different measures of restraint, in particular arrest, the legal and organizational framework for alternative measures of restraint, and how to apply various forms of judicial control at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings.

The one-day events are being organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan, the Union of Judges, and Legal Policy Research Centre think tank.

Since 2008, when Kazakhstan introduced judicial authorization of pre-trial detention, the judicial system and law enforcement bodies have acquired experience to further strengthen judicial review. The series of training seminars aims to promote international standards of due process during pre-trial investigation.

"The right to personal liberty – a fundamental human right – may only be restricted in accordance with a procedure that includes safeguards which protect the person against arbitrary interference,” said Stefan Buchmayer, the Centre’s Human Dimension Officer at the opening of the first seminar in Almaty. “It is therefore crucial to further strengthen legal guarantees when selecting the measure of restraint.” 

"Pre-trial detention is essentially an interference in individual rights, and the decision to choose it should therefore be based on a range of clear criteria and be made in a lawful adversarial process,” said Raissa Yurchenko, a retired Supreme Court Judge who currently heads the Supreme Court’s Analytical Department. “From a rights-based perspective, it is desirable to seek an alternative measure of restraint, whenever the situation permits such a choice.” 

The subsequent two seminars will be held in Aktobe (Western Kazakhstan) and Astana.