Commentary on Article 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Time Limits for Filing Complaints
Complaints against the actions and decisions of an inquiry officer, inquiry body, investigator, prosecutor, judge or court may be filed throughout the entire period of pre-trial investigation and court proceedings. Complaints against a decision to terminate a criminal case at the pre-trial stage may be filed within one year from the date on which the relevant resolution was issued by the criminal prosecution authority or approved by the prosecutor. Complaints against judicial acts issued by courts of first instance, appellate or cassation instances shall be filed within the time limits established by this Code.
As a general rule, any procedural decision or action of a body conducting criminal proceedings may be appealed throughout the entire proceedings in a case and at any stage of the criminal process. This provision reflects the principle of freedom to appeal procedural actions and decisions of bodies conducting criminal proceedings (Article 31 of the CPC). Decisions and actions of an investigator or inquiry officer may be appealed to their superiors, the prosecutor or the court; decisions and actions of a prosecutor may be appealed to a higher-ranking prosecutor or the court; decisions and actions of a court may be appealed to a higher court (Article 102 of the CPC).
At the same time, in order to preserve the stability of investigative and judicial decisions in a case, the provisions of the CPC establish special time limits within which participants in the proceedings may appeal final decisions made during the pre-trial and judicial stages of criminal proceedings.
One of these time limits is expressly specified in the provisions of Article 102 of the CPC: complaints against a decision to terminate a criminal case at the pre-trial stage may be filed within one year from the date on which the relevant resolution was issued by the criminal prosecution authority or approved by the prosecutor (paragraph 1 of Article 46 of the CPC).
The other time limits provided for by Article 102 of the CPC are linked by law to judgments and rulings of courts of first instance and appellate instances, as well as rulings of the cassation instance. For example, appellate (private) complaints and prosecutors' applications may be filed within fifteen days from the date of pronouncement of the judgment or ruling, while for convicted persons held in custody, the same period shall run from the date on which they are served with a copy of the judgment or ruling. Appellate (private) complaints and prosecutors' applications filed after the expiry of the time limit shall, in the absence of an application for restoration of the time limit, be returned to their authors by a ruling of the court that issued the judgment or ruling, indicating this as the grounds for return. If, after the complaint or prosecutor's application has been accepted by the court of first instance, the failure to comply with the filing deadline is discovered by the appellate instance, the judge of the appellate instance shall, by a ruling, leave them without consideration (parts 1 and 3 of Article 418 of the CPC).
The filing of an application, protest or submission for cassation review of a conviction that has entered into legal force on the grounds of the convicted person's innocence, as well as in connection with the need to apply a law on a less serious criminal offence, due to the severity of the punishment or on other grounds entailing an improvement in the convicted person's position, shall not be subject to any time limits. The filing of an application, protest or submission for cassation review of an acquittal that has entered into legal force, a conviction on the grounds of the need to apply a law on a more serious criminal offence, due to the leniency of the punishment or on other grounds entailing a deterioration in the convicted person's position, or a court ruling terminating the case, shall be permitted within one year from the date on which they enter into legal force. Restoration of the specified time limit shall not be permitted if it has been missed (Article 487 of the CPC).
Commentary of 2020 on the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. By Marat Chekishevich Kogamov, Doctor of Law, Honorary Lawyer of Kazakhstan, Professor, Academician of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences, Honoured Employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
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