Deputies of Kyrgyzstan decided to bring the Law on General Principles of Pardon into conformity with the new version of the Criminal Code. A number of people’s deputies proposed the initiative. The document was submitted for public discussion.
According to the authors, it is necessary to eliminate legal conflicts in the pardon issue between the Constitution, the Law on General Principles of Pardon and the Criminal Code, which entered into force on January 1, 2019.
The contradictions are due to the fact that the latest edition of the Basic Law significantly expanded the rights and freedoms of a person and citizen, including in the matter of pardon. That is, the right of each convict to seek pardon or commutation of sentence is not subject to any restrictions. But the law that regulates the pardon issues has a number of limiting norms.
For example, citizens of Kyrgyzstan who have received prison sentences in other countries cannot ask the head of Kyrgyzstan for the act of goodwill.
They have the right to turn only to the president of the state in which they were convicted.
Deputies propose to remove this provision from the law in order to bring the document into compliance with the Basic Law.
The Criminal Code, which entered into force on January 1, 2019, also contains a provision restricting the right of a convict to seek pardon. Moreover, it restricts the constitutional powers of the president to apply the act of pardon. The Basic Law states that the head of state may pardon after a special commission examines a corresponding statement from a convicted person.
As one of the developers, deputy Ulugbek Ormonov told 24.kg news agency, changes are possible during a discussion of articles, crimes for committing which one can ask for pardon, the procedure itself will be discussed separately.
