A criminal justice reform package awaiting Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's signature would abolish the death penalty and partially decriminalize drug possession for personal use. The government claims that the draft will ease pressure on Kyrgyzstan's crumbling prison system and rationalize law enforcement, but critics say the package does not go far enough.
In addition to reforming drug laws and replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment, the bill would transfer the power to issue arrest warrants from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Justice. It also would reduce sentences for some crimes and offer judges more flexibility in doling out alternative punishments, such as community service.
Even though the Bakiyev administration originally introduced the reform package, there remains a chance that the president will veto the controversial legislation. He has until June 26 to make his decision.
Marat Djamankulov, the head of the department for penal system reform at the Ministry of Justice, said this "humanization" of the criminal code came about largely through an assessment of the country's dilapidated prison network. Due to Kyrgyzstan's limited resources and its inheritance of a strict, Soviet-era approach to law and order, the country's jails are now filled to the bursting point. The ratio of 15,500 convicts out of an overall population of 5.3 million places the country's incarceration rate well above the global norm, Djamankulov said.
"Today, the prison system is in the deepest of crises," Djamankulov maintained. "Kyrgyzstan is not such a rich state that it can support such a large amount of prisoners. If one analyzes the situation, something like 25 to 30 percent of the imprisoned could be punished in other ways, more useful for both society and the state."
Calling the prison system "a mirror for the state's criminal policy," Djamankulov viewed prison overcrowding as a symptom of broader flaws in Kyrgyzstan's justice system.
"The goals of punishment are the correction of the convict, the restoration of social justice, and the prevention of new crimes. Today I feel as if not a single one of these goals
Daniel Sershen is a freelance journalist based in Bishkek.
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