Home > 5.2 Content of the referendum > KYRGYZ REPUBLIC- Joint Opinion on the Draft Law "On Introduction of Amendments and Changes to the Constitution"
 
 
 
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Paragraph 74
 

The reworded Article 95 par 3 introduces the possibility for early dismissal of judges where certain causes of termination are established: death, reaching the retirement age or loss of citizenship (see also comments on loss of citizenship in par 111 infra). At the same time, the new provision also refers to cases involving a judge’s “transfer to another position” as well as “other cases not related to the violation of irreproachability requirement”. Such open-ended and vague formulations could potentially be abused to remove individual judges (see par 55 supra). The Draft Amendments have also lowered the threshold for early dismissal from two- thirds of the votes of the total number of deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh to the majority of the deputies present (with a required quorum of 50 votes), which means that the dismissal of judges on such grounds is also greatly facilitated. To ensure that the early dismissal of judges is only permissible in cases specifically set out in law, it is recommended to list all possible grounds for such early dismissal in the Constitution, and to remove the reference to ‘other cases’ currently set out in the revised Article 95 par 3.