Kyrgyzstan 2010 Constitution (reviewed 2016) - Page 6 of 9

Table of Contents

SECTION VI. JUDICIAL POWER IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

Article 93

Justice in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be administered only by a court.In cases and under the procedures envisaged in the law, the citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic shall have the right to participate in the administration of justice.
Judicial power shall be exercised by means of constitutional, civil, criminal, administrative and other forms of legal proceedings.
The judicial system of the Kyrgyz Republic shall be defined in the Constitution and laws and shall consist of the Supreme Court and local courts.The Constitutional Chamber shall act as part of the Supreme Court.
Specialized courts may be established by the law.

Creation of extraordinary courts shall not be permitted.
The organization and procedures of courts shall be defined by law.

Article 94

Judges shall be independent and subordinate only to the Constitution and laws.
A judge shall enjoy the right of immunity and may not be detained or arrested, subjected to search or personal inspection, except for cases when he/she is caught in the act.
No one shall have the right to demand a report from a judge on a given court case.Any interference in the administration of justice shall be prohibited. Persons found guilty of influencing upon a judge shall be liable in accordance with the law.
A judge shall be provided with social, material and other guarantees of his independence in accordance with his/her status.
Any citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic who is not younger than 40 years of age and not older than 70 years of age and has a higher legal education and not less than 10 years of experience in the legal profession may be a judge in the Supreme Court.
Judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected until they reach the age limit.
The judges of the Supreme Court shall elect from amongst them the Chairperson of the Supreme Court and his/her deputies for the term of three years.One and the same person may not be elected Chairperson of the Supreme Court or deputy chairperson for two consecutive terms.
The procedure of electing and dismissing of the Chairperson of the Supreme Court and his/her deputies shall be defined by law.
Any citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic who is not younger than 30 years of age and not older than 65 years of age, has higher legal education and not less than 5 years of experience in the legal profession may be a judge in a local court.Judges of local courts shall be appointed by the President upon submission of the Council on selection of judges for an initial term of 5 years and, for subsequent terms, until they reach the age limit. The procedure of nomination and appointment of judges shall be defined in the constitutional law.
The assembly of judges of a local court shall elect from among them the chairperson and deputy chairperson of court for the term of three years.

One and the same person may not be elected the chairperson or deputy chairperson of a local court for two consecutive terms in one and the same court.
The status of judges of the Kyrgyz Republic shall be defined by the constitutional law, which may impose additional requirements towards the candidates to the positions of judges and certain restrictions on judges of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and local courts.

Article 95

Judges of all courts of the Kyrgyz Republic shall hold their posts and retain their prerogatives as long as their conduct is irreproachable. The violation of the requirements of irreproachability of the conduct of judges shall serve the basis for bringing such judge to account in accordance with the procedure envisaged in the constitutional law.
In the event that a judge violates the requirement of irreproachability, such judge shall be dismissed upon proposal of the disciplinary commission with the Council of judges in accordance with the constitutional law.On the grounds stated above, judges of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Chamber may be early dismissed from their positions by the Jogorku Kenesh by the majority of at least two thirds of votes from the total number of deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh upon submission of the President except for cases stated in part 3 of this Article. The judges of local courts are dismissed by the President.
A person dismissed from the position of a judge due to violation of the requirements of irreproachability, shall have no right to take positions in the civil service and shall be deprived from the entitlement to benefits granted to judges and former judges.
In the event of death of a judge, reaching the age limit, retirement or transfer to another position, being declared dead or missing, legally incapable, loss of citizenship, withdrawal from citizenship or acquisition of another citizenship, as well as in other cases not related to the violation of irreproachability requirement, the powers of the judge shall be subject to early termination upon proposal of the Council of judges by the body which elected or appointed such judge, since the day of grounds for that in accordance with the constitutional law. Judges of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Chamber shall be dismissed from their positions by the decision of the Jogorku Kenesh adopted by the majority of those present but no less than 50 votes of the deputies.
Suspension from office, administrative and criminal action in court are allowed upon consent of the disciplinary commission with the Council of judges in accordance with the procedures set in the constitutional law.
The selection of candidates to the positions of judges of local courts shall be made by the Council on selection of judges in accordance with the procedures envisaged in the constitutional law.
The transfer (rotation) of judges of local courts shall be performed by the President upon submission of the Council of judges in accordance with the procedures and in cases envisaged in the constitutional law.
The Council on selection of judges is composed of judges and representatives of the civil society.The Council of Judges, the parliamentary majority and the parliamentary opposition correspondingly shall elect one third of the composition of the Council on selection of judges.
The organization and procedure of the Council on selection of judges, its powers and rules of formation shall be defined by the law.
The disciplinary commission with the Council of judges shall be formed by the President, the Jogorku Kenesh and the Council of judges, each submitting one third of candidates for membership. Calling of the first sitting of the disciplinary commission shall be effected by the chairperson of the Council of judges after at least two thirds of its members are appointed. In the event that the disciplinary commission with the Council of judges fails to have its first sitting within 10 working days, then the organization of such meeting shall be done by the President. The total number of members, requirements to the candidates to membership in the disciplinary commission with the Council of judges as well as other organizational issues of the commission shall be defined in the law.

Article 96

The Supreme Court shall be the highest body of judicial power in respect of civil, criminal, administrative as well as other cases; it shall revise the rulings of courts upon appeals of the participants in the judicial process in accordance with procedures established by the law.
The Plenum of the Supreme Court shall give explanations on issues of court practice, such explanations shall be mandatory for all courts and judges of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The rulings of the Supreme Court shall be final and not subject to appeal.

Article 97

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court shall be a body which shall perform constitutional oversight.
Any citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic who is not younger than 40 years of age and not older than 70 years of age, has higher legal education and not less than 15 years of experience in legal profession may be the judge of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court.
The judges of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court shall elect the chairperson and deputy chairperson from amongst them for the term of 3 years.
One and the same person may not be elected the chairperson or deputy chairperson of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court for two consecutive terms.
The judges of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme court may be subject to early dismissal from their posts by the Jogorku Kenesh by the majority of not less than two thirds of votes of the total number of the deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh upon submission of the President on the basis of proposal of the Council of judges.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court:
1. shall declare unconstitutional laws and other regulatory legal acts in the event that they contradict the Constitution;
2. shall conclude on the constitutionality of international treaties not entered into force and to which the Kyrgyz Republic is a party;
3. shall conclude on the draft law on changes to the present Constitution.
Everyone shall have the right to challenge the constitutionality of a law or another regulatory legal act in case he/she believes that these acts violate rights and freedoms recognized in the Constitution.
The ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court shall be final and shall be not subject to appeal.
In the event that the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court determines unconstitutionality of laws or provisions thereof, such laws shall be repealed on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, the same applies to other regulatory legal acts based on such laws and provisions thereof declared unconstitutional with the exception of court rulings.
Court rulings based on provisions of laws declared unconstitutional, shall be revised by courts in each concrete case upon appeals of citizens whose rights and freedoms were affected.
The composition and the procedures of formation of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, election and dismissal of chairpersons, deputy chairpersons of the Constitutional Chamber as well as the procedure of administering constitutional justice shall be defined in the constitutional law.

Article 98

The State shall ensure funding and appropriate conditions for the functioning of courts and the activities of judges.The funding of courts shall be at the expense of the republican budget and should ensure the possibility of full and independent administration of justice.
The budget of the judicial system shall be drawn up independently by the judiciary and shall be included in the republican budget upon agreement with the executive and legislative branches of power.

Article 99

The cases in all courts shall be heard in an open manner. The hearing of a case in closed session shall be permitted only in cases provided for in the law. The decision of the court shall be announced publicly.
Trial in absentia in criminal or other cases in courts shall not be permitted except in the cases provided for by the law.
Judicial proceedings shall be administered on the basis of the adversarial principle and equality of the parties.
A judicial act may be annulled, changed or suspended by a court under the procedure established by law.
The procedural rights of parties in the process including the right to appeal against decisions, verdicts and other judicial acts as well as the procedure for exercising those rights shall be defined by law.

Article 100

Acts of courts of the Kyrgyz Republic which have entered into legal force shall be binding for all state authorities, local self governance bodies, legal entities, public associations, officials and private persons and shall be enforceable throughout the territory of the Republic.
Failure to implement, improper implementation or hindering of implementation of judicial acts and also interference with the activities of courts shall incur liability established by the law.

Article 101

A court shall not have the right to apply a legal and regulatory act which is in contradiction with the present Constitution.
In the event that during examination of a case in any judicial instance, there arises a question concerning the constitutionality of the law or other legal and regulatory act on which ruling of the case shall be based, the court shall send an inquiry to the constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court.

Article 102

Judicial self regulation shall be used to resolve internal issues concerning the activities of judges.
The bodies of judicial self regulation in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be the Congress of judges, the Council of judges and the assembly of judges.The Congress of judges shall be the superior body of judicial self regulation.
The Council of judges shall be the elected body of judicial self regulation which shall perform its functions between the Congresses of judges, shall protect rights and legal interests of judges, shall oversee over the formulation and execution of the budgets of courts, organization of training and retraining of judges.
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The assembly of judges shall be the primary body of judicial self regulation.
The organization and procedures of judicial self regulation bodies shall be defined in the law.

Article 103

Justice shall be administered free of charge in cases provided for in the law as well as in all cases where the parties to judicial proceedings submit proof that they do not have sufficient means to conduct them.