28/02/11 - New Initiatives in Judicial System

Дата публикации: Jan 15, 2012 11:30:35 AM

At the initiative of the Committee on Legislation and Judicial Issues in collaboration with the Lawyers Training Center of the Ministry of Justice held a roundtable in the lower house of parliament on the concept of intensifying the democratic reforms and development of civil society offered by the President of the Republic at the joint meeting of both houses of Oliy Majlis.

During the meeting it was emphasized that the concept marked the beginning of radical change in the country’s political life, especially in the judicial system. Member of the committee Abdukadir Toshkulov noted that the reforming of the judicial system, set out in the concept, is important on a new stage of democratic renewal of the country. “In particular, since 2008 the right to authorize detention orders were transferred from procecutors to courts, the courts denied 700 detention requests from pre-trial investigation authorities. The interrogators and investigators have denied this measure even more often over this period. The concept of proposed by the president initiated further steps in this direction. They include, inter alia, in the pre-trial stage, such a measure of procedural compulsion as work dismissal on a court sanction. This measure will ensure the implementation of such a condition of a democratic state as the protection of the rights and interests of citizens and strengthening of judicial oversight. In general, the mere application of criminal procedural coercive measures means the restriction of rights and freedoms. And if so, their application needs strong, fair, reasonable and legal guarantees. And, of course, the goal of criminal proceedings should be focused on less use of this measure,” said the MP. Abdumannob Rakhimov, member of the committee, believes the president’s proposal for changes and additions to the articles 29 and 31 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Uzbekistan became a logical continuation of the phased judicial and legal reforms.

The MP said this initiative guarantees the rights of the accused during the pre-trial stage, enhances judicial scrutiny at the stage of preliminary investigation, expands the application of habeas corpus in the criminal process. And most importantly, later the authorization to forcibly confine the person to a medical institution will be issued not by the prosecutor or investigator, but received in the hearing involving the both parties.

Participants also noted that issues of improving the legal education, promotion of legal knowledge in society, in particular the essence and meaning of the concept put forward by the head of state play a big role in implementing new initiatives.