Kazakhstan's Constitutional Court to have final say on international rulings
Bakyt Nurmukhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court, outlined the clauses governing the Court’s activities under the proposed draft of the Basic Law during the sixth session of the Constitutional Commission on Friday, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to him, the provisions related to the Constitutional Court are mainly in Section 7. The provisions regulating the composition of the Court, the judges' tenure, and its overall mandate have remained largely unchanged.
"The Constitutional Court is being granted specific powers. At the beginning of my speech, I mentioned the Court's function of issuing judicial opinions. In addition thereto, the Court will be empowered to verify whether the execution of rulings by international organizations and their bodies aligns with the Constitution. On such matters, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Chair of the Qurultay, at least one-fifth of the total number of Qurultay deputies, the Prime Minister, and the Prosecutor General may petition the Constitutional Court," Nurmukhanov stated.
The draft also explicitly defines the legal consequences of the Constitutional Court’s rulings.
Any decisions of international organizations and their bodies, including specific provisions, shall be unenforceable if the Constitutional Court deems their implementation to be inconsistent with the Constitution.
Laws and other legal acts, as well as specific provisions within them, that are deemed conforming to the Constitution under the Constitutional Court’s interpretation shall be applied strictly in accordance with that interpretation, Bakyt Nurmukhanov clarified.
As Qazinform previously reported, 77 articles are to be amended in the Kazakh constitutional reform.