how to implement this reform. In this context, the ODIHR, jointly with the parliament of
Kazakhstan, held a conference in June 2005 on the transfer of powers of arrest from the
prosecutor’s office to the judiciary.
OPCAT and detention monitoring
In 2005, the ODIHR worked closely with NGOs and governmental partners to promote
ratification of the OPCAT. One aspect of the OPCAT that could be a powerful tortureprevention tool is the monitoring mechanism: the OPCAT envisages the creation of
a worldwide monitoring body and constantly working independent and transparent
national mechanisms.
The ODIHR provides assistance in the development of independent national monitoring mechanisms. In 2005, this assistance included activities in Armenia and Kazakhstan.
The ODIHR supported the Armenian Monitoring Board in the development of regular and institutionalized monitoring of places of detention by civil society. The ODIHR
translated the manual Monitoring Places of Detention: A Practical Guide for NGOs into Armenian to support the training and capacity-building activities of the Armenian Monitoring Board.
In Kazakhstan, the ODIHR followed up the adoption of the law that allowed public
monitoring of places of detention in 2004 by working with other partners, such as Penal
Reform International, to assist the authorities of Kazakhstan with the drafting of official
regulations on the creation and functioning of monitoring boards. The ODIHR is also
closely following ongoing discussions on the establishment of monitoring boards in
Kyrgyzstan.
Public participation
in the administration of justice
In the former Soviet Union, trials were decided by a judge who was typically joined by
two so-called lay assessors, who were ordinary citizens, not legal professionals. Due to
their penchant for agreeing with whatever the judge decided, these assessors became
known as “nodders.” Seen as both expensive and ineffective, this system was dismantled during the first wave of judicial reforms in the early 1990s that took place in most
post-Soviet states.