Acquittals Surge Sevenfold for Serious Criminal Acts, According to Supreme Court Chairman

NUR-SULTAN – Chairman of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan Zhakyp Assanov noted a seven-fold increase in the number of acquittals for felonies and serious criminal acts during an Aug. 11 meeting with Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev, reported the Akorda’s press service.

Chairman of the Supreme Court says that the development of non-judicial dispute resolution institutions led to the increase in the number of reconciliations. Photo credit: Akorda press service.

According to Assanov, in every fifth case, law enforcement authorities are denied an arrest warrant. For every third complaint, the courts rule that the actions of investigators and prosecutors were illegal.

Assanov noted that the territorial jurisdiction has been introduced on Aug. 1, which means that cases are automatically distributed not within a single court, but across all the courts in the country based on their specialization. This measure is designed to combat corruption.

He also said that over a four-year period, the number of lawsuits to the courts has dipped two and a half times from 900,000 to 340,000. The share of reconciliations in the courts has increased up to 37 percent.

These noticeable accomplishments in civil justice are largely driven by the development of non-judicial dispute resolution institutions. For example, indisputable claims were transferred to the notary, and in respect of arbitration, mediators, legal consultants and labor inspectors were given sufficient authority.

President Tokayev, in turn, instructed his interlocutor to improve the quality of trials in criminal and civil cases, as well as the selection of judicial officials.


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