UZBEK SUPREME COURT DISCUSSES DECREE ON ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY

the Uzbek Supreme Court held a plenary session to discuss the implementation of the presidential decrees on abolishing the death penalty and transferring the right to issue arrest warrants from prosecution bodies to the courts from 1 January 2008, the UzA news agency reported. The plenary session, which was presided over by Uzbek Supreme Court Chairman Boritosh Mustafoyev, especially noted that "steady reforms being carried out in the country's judicial and legal system under the leadership of President Islom Karimov were producing their results", the report said. It also said that training seminars were held in the localities "to explain the essence and significance" of these documents to the public and the staff members of the law-enforcement agencies. The report went on to say that a working group comprising representatives from the Supreme Court, Prosecutor-General's Office, the interior and justice ministries, the National Security Service, the association of lawyers as well as from the Tashkent State Institute of Law was set up to ensure the correct implementation of the laws by judges and the officers of the preliminary investigation bodies, to improve organizational, legal and procedural mechanisms in issuing arrest warrants by the courts. Uzbek Prosecutor-General Rashid Qodirov also took part in the session, the report added.