Discussion of a draft of new criminal legislation takes place in Bishkek.
Gulmira Mamatkerimova, Executive Director of Strategic Decisions NGO, reminded that the working group met behind closed doors.
«The issue of changes in four important codes: Criminal, Criminal Procedure, Penitentiary and Administrative Offenses is being discussed now. Four important codes are being revised. We want to have a legal system that provides a leap into the future, not back,» she said.
Expert Leila Sydykova said that the order of the Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office did not say anything about redrawing the criminal legislation, but the prosecutor’s office actually developed new codes.
«The reform of 2019 is based on the decree of the head of state, where decriminalization and depenalization (release from punishment) were to be carried out to bring the Criminal Code in line with the principles of international law. In 2021, a new decree was issued on creation of the Council for Judicial and Legal Reform, on the basis of which an order is issued by the Presidential Executive Office to analyze the codes for completeness and sufficiency of regulation, eliminate legal gaps, internal contradictions and corruption manifestations, and respect protection of citizens’ rights. Start of work on codes is not mentioned here. There was no analysis of the norms of criminal legislation, there are no statistics. The prosecutor’s office actually developed a new version, raised the issue of changes to the PEC and removed the Misconducts Code. When the judges asked why this code was removed, there was no answer,» she said.
Amendments to the criminal legislation are being introduced in Kyrgyzstan. The initiator is the Prosecutor General’s Office. It is planned to remove the Misconducts Code and retain four — the Criminal, Criminal Procedure, Penitentiary and Administrative Offenses Codes.
