Aiym Shayakhmetova, Judge: The results of reforms in the judicial system of Kazakhstan

I. On July 5, 2024, the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on new cassation courts was signed. Earlier, the cassation instance was performed by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in which cassation proceedings were carried out by collegiums in civil, administrative and criminal cases. In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.-J. From July 1, 2025, Tokayev began to function cassation courts on civil, criminal and administrative cases.

An important innovation was the introduction of a “continuous cassation” mechanism in civil and criminal proceedings. This means that now all cassation complaints are subject to mandatory consideration on the merits, without preliminary selection, which was previously carried out solely by the judge (in civil cases) or collegial (in criminal cases) when deciding on the transfer of the case to the relevant collegium to consider the case. Earlier, access to cassation was limited: complaints were deviated if the case belonged, for example, to the category of disputes with minor claims. The deadline for consideration of a cassation appeal is no more than six months from the moment of its entry to the court.

Now the main task of the Supreme Court is a generalization of judicial practice and issues of compliance with the rule of law in the administration of justice.

With the introduction of cassation courts and the expansion of access to cassation appeal, prerequisites are created for a more transparent and uniform law enforcement.

II.Since July 1, 2021, administrative justice has been operating in Kazakhstan for 4 years, administrative courts have been working to consider public law disputes, where one of the parties is a state body, and on the other, a simple citizen. It is enough for a citizen to file a claim for disagreement with the decision of the authorities or official. Administrative courts consider these claims on the principle of “the burden of proving the defendant”, that is, the state body must prove the legality and validity of its decision, action or inaction. According to statistics, 58% of decisions were made in favor of citizens and business. The largest number of satisfied claims on land, housing, tax disputes, as well as environmental protection.

In addition, in Kazakhstan, trials for some resonant cases are carried out with a direct broadcast, with the participation of representatives of the media.