DUSHANBE, April 16, 2010, Asia-Plus — The Supreme Court chairman Nusratullo Abdulloyev told reporters in Dushanbe today that courts in Tajikistan have issued 77 arrest warrants since April 1, when the new country’s criminal procedure code came into effect.
The new criminal procedure code that replaced the code that was adopted in 1961 already consists of 50 chapters and 486 articles.
We will recall that a new criminal procedure code came into effect in Tajikistan on April 1 this year. The new code transfers to courts some powers previously held by prosecutors. The new criminal procedure code adopted by the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) on October 14 2009 gives the courts broader powers. Under the code, the courts are responsible for issuing arrest warrants, search warrants, authorizing the freezing of assets, property confiscation and wiretapping if investigators can prove such a necessity. The new code mandates the presence of a suspect and his lawyer during the announcement of charges. Before that, the prosecutor general performed these functions, which was criticized by experts.
