The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe organised a two-day conference entitled “Adversarial trial and equality of arms in criminal proceedings” on 8-9 December 2022 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The event was attended by judges from the Supreme Court regional courts, representatives of other institutions of Kazakhstan as well as judges from other Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan).
The discussions focused on challenges and opportunities for further reforms in the judiciary by introducing the concept of adversarial trial and equality of arms concepts in criminal proceedings.
Participants shared their experiences as regards adversarial trial in different legal systems and mechanisms aimed at ensuring the impartiality of the judge. Venice Commission experts from Estonia, Georgia, Ireland, Moldova, and the United Kingdom highlighted the key features of the adversarial trial system both at the pre-trial stage and during the proceedings. They also shared best European practices aiming to increase the fairness of the court’s decisions and to enhance court public trust.
This conference is organised by the action "Promoting efficient functioning of state institutions and public administration" in the framework of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme which is a joint EU-Council of Europe initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.
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