January 9, 2023

The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed amendments to the legislation on courts with the participation of jurors

Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan to expand the categories of cases considered by the court with the participation of jurors,” the press service of Akorda reports.

The draft law was developed in order to implement the Address of the Head of State dated March 16, 2022 in order to improve the criminal procedure legislation governing the consideration of cases involving jurors.

As the chairman of the Judicial Board for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan Abdrashit Zhukenov noted earlier, presenting the document at the plenary session of the Chamber, this draft law, in implementation of the instruction of the Head of State, proposes to expand the jurisdiction of jurors and from January 1, 2024 to transfer to them 13 more compositions of serious and less serious crimes.

“In general, 44 jurors will be assigned to the jurisdiction of the jury. The expansion of the jurisdiction of the jury will contribute to the democratization of the judicial system and increase public confidence in it. It will make it possible to implement the main principles of criminal proceedings to a greater extent: the adversarial nature of the parties, the presumption of innocence and others,” concluded Abdrashit Zhukenov.

The text of the Law is published in the press.