Kazakh Supreme Court hosted meeting on promoting independent judiciary
The event focused the attention of some 150 delegates on how to apply international standards of judicial independence in selecting, promoting, and evaluating judges, according to a statement released Friday by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which co-sponsored the event.
Kazakhstan's Union of Judges expressed during the conference its interest in joining the 74-member International Association of Judges, the OSCE noted.
Membership in this body would serve as an acknowledgement of Kazakhstan's achievements in the field of judicial independence, and as a commitment to continue its efforts to strengthen an independent judiciary, according to a union statement.
Musabek Alimbekov, chair of the Supreme Court, told participants that "a strong independence of the judiciary is a precondition for the proper performance of justice. Judges should be free of any pressure or attempts to influence them to guarantee effective protection of citizens' rights."
International defense lawyers and experts from Lithuania, Germany, and Poland took part in the conference.
"It is of paramount importance that judicial independence serves not only as a guarantee of the judiciary's institutional stability, but also as a tool to provide people-oriented and effective justice to citizens," the report cited Alexandre Keltchewsky, chief of the OSCE center in Astana, as telling the conference.
The Supreme Court organized the event in cooperation with Kazakhstan's Union of Judges, the non-governmental organization Legal Policy Research Center, the OSCE, and the European Union Project, "Support of Judicial and Legal Reforms in Kazakhstan."