Strength of Democracy in Kazakhstan Through Rule of Law
Six judges and attorneys from Kazakhstan
April 14, 2015
Santa Fe College
To be honest, I had no idea the there was a country named Kazakhstan, and that’s the reason I decided to attend the lecture. It was quite an intriguing lecture since we had the privilege of having six real judges and attorneys all the way from Kazakhstan. I also found it most interesting that the country used to be part of Russia, since not many people from Russia have an Asian appearance and most of the attorneys and judges in the lecture did. It was also quite fascinating to watch the judges and attorneys communicate with each other in Russian, and with us in English through a translator. Although this point may sound a bit undeveloped, witnessing Russian-speaking peoples for the first time was something I had never experienced. Since I’m a fluent English and Spanish speaker, there has never been a situation in which I have not been able to make out what a foreigner is saying, since I’m somewhat familiar with French and Italian, and Spanish is very much like Portuguese. In this moment, however, I was like trying to decipher Mayan hieroglyphs, and that feeling was very interesting and exciting since I was reassured that there’s so much more to learn. Being among them was fascinating.
Also to my surprise was the country being as diverting as the United States. After being shown a brief video of a general look at Kazakhstan, I learned that the country has a fantastic sports industry, it contains magnificent architecture with mosques and temples, the mall looking like a castle, and having 130 nationalities.
As for their legal system, it proves to be very effective and very unlike the United States system. In terms of getting trials dealt with without having citizens wait an extensive amount of time, they excel. They are also grandiosely interested, placing it as a top priority in the law, in humanity and having laws protect it. For instance, instead of sentencing prison times, they would rather their convictions be of any other sort, putting less people in prison, and at the same time saving money. Also, there is a very limited number of death penalty cases. The most severe prison sentences are 12+ prison years and life. Also, very much like in the United States, a case can only be heard by the Supreme Court once it’s passed all the federal court levels.
In this lecture I was captivated by learning about a different law and court system than the system in the United States. As a United States citizen, I’ve heard many complaints about prison sentences, and about unrightful convictions in the early 1960’s and throughout our nation’s history. To hear from practicing Kazakhstani attorneys and judges about their law and court system putting as a priority to be rightful and as humanity-aware as possible makes me think that perhaps the United States could learn from them. If the Kazakhstani people have a system where they feel protected and not like they could be taken advantage of, which is one of the complaints from many of our nation’s citizens, then our country can find the time to ease the court process for those having court cases needed to take care of. We pride ourselves in having the oldest constitution still in use in the world, but if the constitution is not being followed verbatim, or if there is always a way around our laws, then can we truly say that our country has law and order? In this case, anyone can rule, anyone can make laws, and ultimately, there is no established authority. In today’s United States where riots are killing innocent lives, where there is still racial resentment, where the laws protect the lawmakers and not the citizens, we could use a just and human system like Kazakhstan’s.