Article 7. Explanation of some concepts contained in this Code of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The concepts contained in this Code have, unless specifically specified in the law, the following meaning:

     1) extradition of a person (extradition) is the extradition to the State of a person who is wanted for criminal prosecution or execution of a sentence.;

     2) the prosecution party – the criminal prosecution authorities, as well as the victim (private prosecutor), the civil plaintiff, their legal representatives and representatives;

     3) juror is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who has been called upon to participate in the consideration of a criminal case by the court in accordance with the procedure established by this Code and has taken the oath.;

     4) appellate instance – a court that considers a case on the merits based on appeals and appeals petitions of the prosecutor against sentences that have not entered into legal force, decisions of the court of first instance;

     5) special knowledge – knowledge that is not generally known in the criminal process, acquired by a person in the course of professional training or practical activities, used to solve the problems of criminal proceedings;

     6) special scientific knowledge – a field of special knowledge, the content of which is scientific knowledge implemented in the methods of forensic research;

     7) the applicant is a person who has reported a criminal offense or has applied to the court or the criminal prosecution authorities for protection in criminal proceedings of his actual or alleged right or the right of the person represented by him;

     8) the main trial is the consideration of a criminal case on the merits by a court of first instance;

     9) court of first instance – district and equivalent courts (city, specialized inter-district courts, military courts of garrisons), considering in accordance with the jurisdiction of criminal cases received after the completion of the pre-trial investigation or after the cancellation of a judicial act by a higher court, or on the complaint of a private prosecutor, specialized investigative courts, specialized inter-district investigative courts, reviewing complaints about decisions and actions (inaction) of persons conducting a pre-trial investigation, the prosecutor overseeing the legality of the case-investigative activities, pre-trial investigation, authorizing procedural actions in the cases provided for by this Code, as well as exercising other powers provided for by this Code;

     10) scientific and technical means - devices, special devices, materials lawfully used to detect, fix, remove and examine evidence;

     11) close relatives – parents, children, adoptive parents, adopted children, full and half-siblings, grandparents, grandchildren;

     12) secret investigative action – an action carried out during pre-trial proceedings without prior notification of the persons whose interests it concerns, in accordance with the procedure and cases provided for by this Code.;

     13) legal representatives – parents (parent), adoptive parents (adoptive parents), guardians, guardians of the suspect, the accused, the victim, the civil plaintiff, as well as representatives of organizations and persons in whose care or dependents the suspect, the accused or the victim are;

     14) cassation instance – the court considering the case on cassation complaints, representations, protests against sentences, decisions of the courts of first and appellate instances;

     15) electronic document – a document in which information is provided in electronic and digital form and certified by means of an electronic digital signature;

     16) resolution – any court decision, decision of an inquirer, body of inquiry, investigator, prosecutor, adopted in the course of criminal proceedings, in addition to a verdict.;

     17) protection is a procedural activity carried out by the defense party in order to ensure the rights and interests of persons who are suspected or accused of committing a criminal offense, refute or mitigate suspicion, charges, as well as rehabilitate persons who have been unlawfully prosecuted.;

     18) the defense party – the suspect, the accused, the defendant, the convicted, the acquitted, their legal representatives, the defender, the civil defendant and his representative;

     19) final decision – any decision of the body conducting the criminal process, excluding the beginning or continuation of proceedings on the case, as well as resolving, even if not definitively, the case on the merits.;

     20) competent authority – an authority conducting criminal proceedings that makes a request (instruction, petition) in accordance with Section 12 of this Code or ensures the execution of a request (instruction, petition) for legal assistance;

     21) legal assistance is the conduct by the competent authorities of one State, at the request (instruction, petition) of the competent authorities of another state or international judicial institutions, of procedural actions necessary for a pre–trial investigation, trial of a case or execution of a judicial act;

     22) criminal prosecution (prosecution) is a procedural activity carried out by the prosecution in order to establish an act prohibited by criminal law and the person who committed it, the guilt of the latter in committing a criminal offense, as well as to ensure the application of punishment or other measures of criminal legal influence to such a person.;

     23) bodies (officials) of criminal prosecution – prosecutor (public prosecutor), investigator, body of inquiry, inquirer;

     24) other persons participating in the criminal process – the secretary of the court session, the translator, the witness, the understood, the expert, the specialist, the bailiff, the mediator;

     25) participants in criminal proceedings – bodies and persons conducting criminal prosecution and maintaining charges in court, as well as persons defending their rights and interests during criminal proceedings: prosecutor (public prosecutor), investigator, body of inquiry, inquirer, suspect, witness entitled to defense, accused, their legal representatives, defense attorney, civil defendant, victim, private prosecutor, civil plaintiff, their legal representatives and representatives;

     26) the body conducting the criminal process is the court, as well as in the case of a pre–trial investigation, the prosecutor, the investigator, the body of inquiry, the inquirer;

     27) a criminal case is a separate proceeding conducted by a criminal prosecution body and (or) a court regarding one or more criminal offenses.;

     28) state prosecution is the procedural activity of the prosecutor in the court of first instance and the court of appeal, consisting in proving the charge in order to bring to criminal responsibility a person who has committed a criminal offense.;

     29) actual detention – restriction of the freedom of a detained person, including freedom of movement, forced detention in a certain place, forced delivery to the bodies of inquiry and investigation (seizure, closure in a room, coercion to go somewhere or stay in place, etc.), as well as any other actions that significantly restrict personal freedom from the moment to the minute when these restrictions became real, regardless of whether the detainee was given any procedural status or other formal procedures were performed.;

     30) protest, petition of the prosecutor – an act of respectively prosecutorial supervision and response of the prosecutor to the decision of the court, the investigating judge in a criminal case, introduced within his competence and in the manner provided for by this Code.;

     31) central authority is a body authorized on behalf of a state to consider, in accordance with the procedure provided for in this Code, a request (instruction, petition) from a competent authority of a foreign state or an international judicial institution and take measures to organize its execution or send a request (instruction, petition) from a competent authority for legal assistance to a foreign state.;

     32) representatives – persons authorized to represent the legitimate interests of the victim, civil plaintiff, private prosecutor, civil defendant by virtue of law or agreement;

     33) petition is a request from a party or an applicant addressed to the body conducting the criminal process for the production of a procedural action or the adoption of a procedural decision.;

     33-1) Parallel financial investigation – a set of measures provided for in this Code, taken within the framework of a pre-trial investigation, aimed at identifying, disclosing and investigating circumstances confirming that property subject to confiscation in accordance with Article 48 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was obtained illegally, including as a result of a criminal offense, or is income from this property, as well as identification of persons involved in the concealment of criminal assets, tracking the movement of criminal proceeds, and taking measures to arrest them, confiscation or return to the rightful owners in accordance with the procedures established by law, including international cooperation; Note from the!           Article 7 is provided to be supplemented by paragraph 33-1) in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 07/16/2025 No. 210-VIII (effective from 01/01/2027).

     34) the head of the prosecutor's office is the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Chief Military and Chief Transport Prosecutors of the Republic of Kazakhstan, prosecutors of regions and equivalent prosecutors and their deputies, as well as military prosecutors of regions and garrisons, regional transport prosecutors, prosecutors of districts, cities and equivalent prosecutors and their deputies, acting within their jurisdiction. competencies;

The Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 4, 2014 № 231. 

President    

Republic of Kazakhstan     

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