NEW LAW ENFORCEMENT BLOCK IN KAZAKHSTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000827 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/AAE, SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR SNAR KCRM KTIP KZ SUBJECT: NEW LAW ENFORCEMENT BLOCK IN KAZAKHSTAN REF: ASTANA 0367 ASTANA 00000827 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: In early April, President Nazarbayev reshuffled the heads of nearly all of Kazakhstan's law agencies. General Major Serik Baimagambetov, a member of the Majilis (i.e. the lower house of parliament),was named Minister of Interior, replacing Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov who was appointed to a seat in the Senate (i.e., the upper house of parliament). Procurator General Rashid Tussupbekov was named Minister of Justice, replacing Zagipa Baliyeva, who was appointed to a seat in the Majilis. Former Supreme Court Chairman (i.e., Chief Justice) Kairat Mami was appointed Procurator General, replacing Tussupbekov. Supreme Court Justice Musabek Alimbekov was named the Court's Chairman. During the reshuffle, the President gave the new ministers orders to improve law enforcement. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (U) On April 3 and 4, during meetings with the Senate, President Nazarbayev announced a reshuffling of the heads of nearly all of Kazakhstan's law enforcement agencies. ¶4. (U) At a subsequent meeting with the newly appointed law enforcement officials, President Nazarbayev discussed his concerns about law enforcement corruption. He said the elimination of "unqualified people" at all levels in the government and fighting corruption will renew the public's trust in the authorities. He tasked the newly-appointed officials with making the necessary changes to improve the management of the police, justice, and court systems. Nazarbayev explained that the financial crisis has highlighted problems in the system. High-profile crimes remain unresolved, the fight against street crimes is going poorly, and organized criminal organizations have stepped up their activities. Though the Agency on Combating Economic and Corruption Crime (i.e., the Financial Police) has recently intensified its work, there is still believed to be a multi-billion tenge criminal economy in operation. The President underlined that coordinated activity of law enforcement agencies is necessary to effectively fight crime and announced that the Procurator General's Office (PGO) should play the coordinating role. New Minister of Interior Baimagambetov was tasked with strengthening public security and "striking fear in the hearts of criminals." The President stated that the police must be close to people and that the courts should be open to public. He also tasked all law enforcement agencies with closely overseeing the lawful use of government funds allocated for mitigating the effects of the financial crisis. SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN ¶5. (SBU) New Supreme Court Chairman Musabek Alimbekov has worked in the courts throughout his career. He previously chaired the South Kazakhstan Oblast court and then the Almaty City Court. Immediately before his new appointment, Alimbekov headed the Panel of Judges on Civil Cases at the Supreme Court for three years. In one high profile case, his panel found for civil servants who were guaranteed housing as part of their employment contract, but had not received it. PROCURATOR GENERAL ¶6. (SBU) President Nazarbayev stressed his appointment of Kairat Mami to be the new Procurator General was particularly important. In his nine years Supreme Court, Chairman Mami had an opportunity to closely study the law enforcement system. The President stressed that Mami, as Procurator General, can strengthen the coordination of the law enforcement system. NOTE: Constitutionally, oversight is one of the PGO's main roles as it was in the USSR. Before this round of appointments, there had been discussions in the government making the PGO's future role as the coordinating agency unclear. Representatives of INL and the Legal Attach's Office attended a roundtable early this year at the PGO Institute regarding this very ASTANA 00000827 002.2 OF 003 issue. END NOTE. MINISTER OF JUSTICE ¶7. (U) New Minister of Justice Rashid Tussupbekov was born in 1955 in Shymkent and graduated from Karaganda State University in 1981. He started his career as a district judge in Karaganda oblast in ¶1984. He served as Procurator General from 2000 to 2009. He has published extensively on legal reform and improvement of the judicial system. During the first meeting with the new law enforcement heads, President Nazarbayev said that he expects that Tusupbekov will improve the Ministry's legal drafting. MINISTER OF INTERIOR ¶8. (U) New Minister of Interior General Major Serik Baimagambetov graduated from Moscow State University in 1980 with a law degree. From 1980 until 1990, he worked as an instructor at the Karaganda Academy of the Ministry of Interior of the USSR (now the Karaganda Legal Institute). From 1990 through 1992, he worked at the Kazakhstani Section on Research of Problems in the Fight against Crime of the Higher Scientific and Research Institute of the USSR's Ministry of Interior. From 1992 until 1996, Baimagambetov worked in various positions in Kazakhstan's Presidential Administration and was Deputy Secretary of the Security Council from 1996 until 1999. In 2001, Baimagambetov became Vice Minister of Interior and, in 2003, he became Vice Minister of Justice. In 2005, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Agency on Combating Economic and Corruption Crimes and, in 2006, was named to head the Section on Law Enforcement and Court Systems in the Presidential Administration. From November 2007 until his current appointment, he was a member of the Senate ¶9. (U) On April 17, Baimagambetov held his first meeting with the heads of the oblast departments of interior. He reported that there were fewer murders, robberies, thefts and other crimes during the first quarter of 2009. He claimed that much has been done to combat organized crime. Joint operations with other law enforcement agencies have disrupted the work of the "criminal world's elite," but that this has resulted in a new flow of mob bosses ("thieves-in-law") from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia coming to Kazakhstan to strengthen their positions and revive their "traditions." He stated that 13 mafia leaders, 18 gang leaders, and 87 members of organized criminal groups had been arrested during the quarter. The Ministry of Interior (MVD) uncovered 2,718 drug-related crimes, including 585 cases of drug sales, and seized 1.7 metric tons of drugs, including 26 kilos of heroin. The MVD is also working more closely with civil society: over 4,000 civil society associations and NGOs with approximately 33,000 members are currently working with law enforcement. The MVD is also working in schools through youth programs and school inspectors. The Minister described the overall crime rate as stable, but admitted that the economic situation may cause an increase in property and violent crimes. ¶10. (U) Baimagambetov tasked the oblast departments with monitoring the criminal situation and responding in a timely manner to any increases in crime. The Minister added that the heads of the oblast departments need to strengthen the work of their territorial and transport subdivisions by making officers personally responsible. He said that the Department of Interior of the Eastern Kazakhstan oblast has done especially well cleaning up its department -- several officers have been dismissed, including the Deputy Head of the Department. (NOTE: On April 13, the Ministry of Interior announced that it is instituting a transparent recruitment system, with the main criteria for selection being professionalism and honesty. END NOTE.) ACHIEVEMENTS OF FORMER INTERIOR MINISTER... ¶11. (U) Former Minister of Interior Bauyrzhan Mukhamedzhanov was ASTANA 00000827 003.2 OF 003 appointed to that position in October 2005. He reformed the organizational structure of the MVD by eliminating units with overlapping responsibilities and increased the number of patrol officers throughout the country. In June 2008, President Nazarbayev signed into law amendments introducing tougher punishments for drug-related crimes and clearly stipulating a division of responsibilities between the MVD and Ministry of Justice for correctional facilities. The MVD Committee of Internal Troops is responsible for maintaining jails, where suspects are housed during investigations and during trial. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for maintaining correctional colonies, where prisoners are able to work, and prisons. In July 2008, amendments on road security were introduced that foresee a gradual strengthening of penalties for traffic violations. The penalties for traffic violations now correspond to the danger the violations pose to the public. Comparing the statistics with the first two months of 2008, the number of traffic accidents in the first two months of 2009 has decreased nearly 9%. ... AND HIS FAILURES ¶12. (SBU) One of the MVD's most controversial decisions was the introduction of a driver's record card in addition to the driver's license. The card contains information about the driver, the vehicle, and previous infractions, and allowed drivers to easily pay penalties on the road. Initially, the cards were offered to the public for a fee, but discussions in Parliament led to cards being offered free of charge, which upset those who had already paid. The MVD also faced a scandal in its Counternarcotics Committee over the poor construction of internal narcotics checkpoints (reftel). At a government meeting on March 31, Prime Minister Karim Masimov criticized the MVD's draft Program on Combating Drug Trafficking and Drug Addiction and requested the Ministry revise the plan within 30 days. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ¶13. (U) In 2008, the MVD signed international counter-narcotics agreements with Egypt, Croatia, Slovakia, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The MVD was responsible for the agreement on the establishment of the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Center (CARICC),which entered into force on March 22, ¶2009. Post provides technical assistance to the MVD on combating narco-trafficking and trafficking-in-persons. Post's legal attache works with the MVD in investigations. ¶14. (SBU) COMMENT: Recent corruption and other criminal offenses committed by law enforcement officials in the midst of the financial crisis have had a serious negative effect on the already negative public image of law enforcement. There are many possible reasons for the recent increase in the corruption-related arrests of government officials, including competition within the senior ranks and further struggles over the Aliyev case. If corruption has increased, one cause may be corrupt officers with ties to senior officials acting with impunity while their protectors spend years in senior positions. Though none of the reshuffled officials have themselves been accused of corruption, moving them around may in any event be a useful means to tackle the corruption beneath them. INL Astana has worked with the Procurator General's Office in implementing the Crime Statistics Project; with the Ministry of Justice in implementing the Anti Trafficking-in-Persons (TIP) and Forensic projects; and with the Ministry of Interior in implementing Counter-narcotics and TIP projects. Post has had successful cooperation with the former senior management of the law enforcement agencies and believes that cooperation will continue. INL also hopes for fresh ideas from the newly-appointed officials. END COMMENT. MILAS