Courts Need Greater Independence

As Tajikistan heads towards judicial reforms next year, NBCentralAsia analysts recommend giving judges broader powers and changing the way they are appointed so that they are no longer dependent on the executive.



The reforms, especially a new criminal procedures code that will make the courts rather than prosecutor responsible for issuing warrants, are being hotly debated in Tajikistan. The reforms are being implemented as part of Tajikistan’s obligation to meet international human rights standards.



Analysts interviewed by NBCentralAsia welcomed the expanded functions being granted to the courts.



According to analyst Shokirjon Hakimov, Tajikistan must “create laws that redistribute certain powers to the judiciary, for example in issuing warrants and setting penalties, and deprive prosecutors of their ability to keep a check on court rulings”.



Human rights activist Ikrom Samadov shares this view, adding that the new system will only work if judges are appointed in a different way from the present system, where they are nominated by the Judicial Council and approved by the Tajik president. “Of course it [the Judicial Council] is able to interfere in the work of judges, so they implicitly know that they can be sacked or fail the certification process if they make rulings that go against the will of the executive,” Samadov told NBCentralAsia.



The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently expressed concern that judges in Tajikistan were not sufficiently independent.



Observers also note other problems that need to be addressed in the forthcoming judicial reform, such as providing better infrastructure for the courts, increasing the salaries paid to judges, reducing corruption in the judicial system, and ensuring international human rights standards are adhered to.



“We have to remember that the judicial system is one of the main foundations of the state,” said Samadov. “When the requirements of the constitution and the laws are flouted or ignored by government agencies, it is much more dangerous than when an individual commits a crime.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)