The main goal of establishing of the forum was to create a platform for discussion of the sharpest problems of combating crime, disputes in the application of criminal and criminal procedural law. Following the meeting, the views of law enforcement officials, academics, representatives of civil society on law enforcement issues and ways to resolve them will be consolidated. The first meeting of the forum was devoted to the discussion of the causes behind the rare appointment of criminal fines in Kazakhstan.

Members of the meeting included the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhakip Assanov, Chairman of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan Igor Rogov, international expert Keir Hopley, representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Constitutional Council, law-enforcement and other concerned government agencies, lawyers, diplomatic missions, non-governmental organizations, academics and practicing lawyers, deputies of the Parliament, as well as staff of the EU Project “Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan”.

“A fine is the leading criminal penalties as an alternative to imprisonment across the world. In particular, in England and Wales, 90% of the crimes are punished by fines. While in Kazakhstan fines for crimes are appointed extremely rare, for less than 5% of prisoners. Besides, today more than 2 thousand of these sentences are not performed,” said the General Prosecutor Zhakip Assanov in his opening speech.

The main obstacles to the appointment and execution of fines are their excessively large size, lack of the repayment time, and lack of the appropriate leverage mechanisms over debtors.

“We studied the possibility of increasing the use of criminal fines as an alternative to imprisonment.  At the forum, we presented preliminary recommendations on best practice, what might be transferable to Kazakhstan, and how best it might be made to work successfully.  As ever in these matters, successful reform will depend as much on winning hearts and minds of those in positions to influence delivery as in legislative change. Whilst the detail of how different countries operate varies, those countries which make good use of fines have low minimum fines and take account of the ability of the offender to pay when fixing the amount of the fine,” noted the EU expert Keir Hopley.

During the forum, General Prosecutor's Office presented a set of amendments to the laws, including the adjustment and reduction of fines, the introduction of the multiple fines for the first time committed minor crimes against property, increase in the deferral and payment installments terms of the fines and others. After the discussions, forum participants generally endorsed the General Prosecutor's Office’s initiatives and voiced a number of their own proposals on the ways to enhance the system of criminal fines.

The forum was organized by the Supreme Court, the Committee on Legislation and Judicial-Legal Reform, the Legal Council under the "Nur Otan" Party, the General Prosecutor's Office, and the EU Project “Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan”.

Funded by the European Union (EU) the project “Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan” with a total budget of EUR 5.5 million forms part of the larger programme “Support to Judicial Reform in Kazakhstan”, administered by the EU Delegation in Kazakhstan. It is implemented by Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NI-CO) in partnership with Ministry of Justice of the United Kingdom, Dutch Probation Service and National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, Poland.

For additional information please contact Ms Mira Beisenova, Communications Expert, at phone + 7 (7172) 23 70 19, 23 70 20 or e-mail:mbeisenova@nico.org.uk or Ms Elnara Bainazarova, Press and Information Officer, the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan, at phone +7(7172) 97 45 67 or e-mail: Elnara.BAINAZAROVA@eeas.europa.eu.