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Legal Opinions and Comments

  • Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to Some Legislative Acts Concerning Prevention of and Fight Against Political Corruption of Ukraine
    On 22 July 2015, Mr Yehor Soboliev, the Chairperson of the Committee on Corruption Prevention and Counteraction of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine sent a letter to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (hereinafter “OSCE/ODIHR”), in which he asked for a review of draft amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Prevention of and Fight against Political Corruption (CDL-REF(2015)031), (hereinafter “the draft amendments”) to assess their compliance with international human rights standards. The draft amendments propose changes to seven different Ukrainian legal acts, namely the Code of Administrative Offences, the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Law on the Accounting Chamber, the Law on the Elections of the President of Ukraine (hereinafter “Presidential Election Law”), the Law on Political Parties of Ukraine (hereinafter “Political Parties Law”),the Law on Election of Members of Parliament of Ukraine (hereinafter “Parliamentary Elections Law”) and the Law on Prevention of Corruption (hereinafter “AntiCorruption Law”).
    Report
    26 October 2015
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  • Draft Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to some Legislative Acts concerning Prevention of and Fight against Political Corruption in Ukraine (September 2015)
    OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission welcome the draft amendments as an important improvement to the existing legal framework on political party and campaign financing. Several provisions could benefit from further improvement, in order to ensure that the draft amendments are in line with international standards. This relates, in particular, to provisions in the areas of contribution and spending limits and oversight over political party and campaign financing by regulatory bodies.
    Report
    7 September 2015
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  • Annex to Draft Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to some Legislative Acts concerning Prevention of and Fight against Political Corruption in Ukraine
    Attachment
    7 September 2015
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  • Opinion on the Draft Law on Resolution of Disputes through Mediation and Amendments to Related Legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic
    While the Opinion welcomes a mostly coherent legal framework pertaining to mediation which in many ways is compatible with international standards is also provides a number of recommendations in order to ensure sufficient safeguards with respect to criminal mediation in line with international standards, ensure the quality of mediation and guarantee procedural rights in the course of mediation processes, clarify the rules of confidentiality of mediation proceeding and the admissibility of mediation-related information as evidence in subsequent court proceedings, clearly outline exceptions to the confidentiality in the law.
    Report
    5 August 2015
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  • Opinion on Draft Amendments to the Legal Framework on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence in Moldova (9 July 2015)
    The Opinion notes many positive aspects of the draft amendments, such as the newly introduced possibility for police bodies to issue emergency restraining orders on site, the criminalization of the violation of protection orders issued by courts, and the willingness to exclude alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in domestic violence cases – which demonstrates Moldova’s willingness to render its legislation compliant with international standards. At the same time, in light of the latest case law of the European Court of Human Rights and recent reports from international human rights bodies, the main challenge remains the actual implementation of the relevant legislation in practice, and ensuring the effective investigation and prosecution of domestic violence cases in Moldova. The Opinion states that a number of provisions of the draft amendments could be drafted in a clearer manner and provides a number of recommendations to ensure a more effective implementation of the legal framework on preventing and combating domestic violence in Moldova.
    Report
    9 July 2015
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  • Preliminary Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia
    The Opinion, requested on 21 May 2015 by the First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, dealt with a new system for the appointment and accountability of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. Overall, the Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR and the CCPE/DGI consider that the reform of the Prosecutor’s Office goes into the right direction. However, the Georgian authorities are encouraged to pursue further changes to ensure the depoliticisation of the office of the Chief Prosecutor, including by introducing clear qualification and experience criteria; introducing more transparency in the manner of selection of candidates by Parliament; ensuring that the power to nominate prosecutors to the Prosecutorial Council does not belong exclusively to the top officials of the prosecutorial system; introducing further guarantees for the independence of the Prosecutorial Council, and by clearly defining the coercive powers of the Special Prosecutor, as well as the nature of the investigation he/she may conduct.
    Report
    9 July 2015
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  • Opinion on the Draft Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic
    While the Opinion welcomes a number of improvements to the criminal procedural rules in the Kyrgyz Republic, it also provides a number of recommendations to amend or supplement the Draft Criminal Procedure Code, in order to: 1. effectively prevent and combat torture and other forms of ill-treatment during the criminal justice process; 2. improve the system of juvenile justice; 3. clarify the rules on the inadmissibility of evidence; and 4. ensure a more effective protection of the rights of the suspect or accused at each stage of the criminal proceedings.
    Report
    19 June 2015
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  • Annex to the OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic
    Unofficial English Translation of the draft criminal procedure code of the Kyrgyz Republic
    Report
    2 July 2015
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