“Lawyers are one of the pillars of protection of the principle of the rule of law and human rights in the administration of justice,” President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov said in a speech at the 2nd Congress of Lawyers on Thursday.
The head of the state especially emphasized the need to ensure conditions for lawyers for efficiency of law enforcement system and justice.
“The history of Kyrgyz justice is replete with examples that convince us what incredible accidents human fate can be subjected to when caught in the scales of Themis. It is not easy to get out from under the grindstone of Kyrgyz justice if you happen to get caught in it. I say this as someone who has experienced the weight of these millstones for several years. And, frankly, without the help of lawyers, especially their moral support, it would have been difficult for me to bear the weight of the millstone of the law enforcement and judicial system,” the Kyrgyz president said.
Sadyr Zhaparov, recognizing the important role of the legal profession, noted that international law in the field of human rights protection establishes certain obligations of states, for example, the obligation to ensure that persons deprived of liberty have access to a lawyer while in detention and the obligation to create and maintain a system of legal aid.
He emphasized that the new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, adopted by popular vote on April 11 this year, not only enshrines all these requirements of international law, but also for the first time directly enshrined the constitutional and legal status of the Bar.
Source: Kyrgyz National News Agency