Constitution and principles of justice in new Uzbekistan

In the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the rule of priority of human rights and freedoms, the fact that human life, freedom, honor and dignity are the highest value, the rights of citizens to be protected by the court, the principles of justice, the fact that the court is an independent branch of state power, the independence of the courts and is reflected in a number of fundamental, universally recognized and international legal norms, such as obedience to the law and the presumption of innocence.

Ensuring effective and consistent functioning of judicial authorities in our country, ensuring that judges have high professional qualifications, in-depth knowledge, modern worldview and high moral qualities is considered as an important factor of social and political stability. At this point, it should be said that justice is one of the important areas of state activity, protecting the rights and legal interests of citizens with the help of the court is a special legal form of their social protection.

Judiciary power is manifested by the court's consideration of civil, economic, administrative and criminal cases, and the resolution of legal disputes. In this case, the court affects the rights and legal interests of citizens, enterprises, institutions and organizations; finding guilty of committing a crime, imposing a punishment in a criminal case; depriving a person of certain rights, property, personal rights and freedoms or restricting them in court proceedings; is engaged in the application of the law in its activities, such as ensuring justice and, when appropriate, proving the innocence of a person and issuing a sentence.  In fact, justice is a great blessing of the treasure of human spirituality and culture, a unique achievement and educational value. According to such a high definition, justice is the embodiment and direct implementation of the legal policy of the state aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, legal interests, political and economic foundations of society.

In addition, in the past 2017-2021, five priority areas of the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan include ensuring human rights, strengthening the accountability and openness of state bodies, and the role of civil society institutions, mass media, and political associations of the population and public associations. Systematic work was carried out to increase its activity.

As the head of state stated in his address to the Oliy Majlis, the main task of the courts is to find justice, and for this, the court should issue a legal, reasonable and fair decision on each case.

The main goal of the reforms implemented in our country is to implement the noble ideas of "For the dignity of man" and "The state is for man." The demand for further development of the principles of justice in Uzbekistan is increasing. Freedom, honor and dignity of citizens are the highest value, the rights of citizens to be protected by the court, the principles of justice, the court is an independent branch of the state power, the independence of the courts and obedience only to the law, a number of fundamental principles such as the presumption of innocence. generally recognized norms of international law are reflected.

The words of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in his Address to the Oliy Majlis about "Every person who steps on the threshold of the court must be fully convinced that justice reigns in Uzbekistan" increase the responsibility of the courts even more. will be The ultimate goal of the reforms in our country is to create free, comfortable and prosperous living conditions for people. Judicial reforms should turn justice into a process that protects the interests of citizens, lead to the liberalization of the judicial system, deepen the process of democratic renewal in our country, and lay the foundation for the formation of a civil society.

During the consistent implementation of the reforms implemented in our country by the initiatives of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M. Mirziyoev, the development strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 was approved and the necessary political-legal, socio-economic aspects of the reforms to be implemented in the next five years were approved. and a number of tasks aimed at creating scientific and educational foundations were defined.

The 15th goal of the development strategy aims to establish effective judicial control over the activities of state bodies and officials and to increase the level of access to justice for citizens and business entities.

Also, on the basis of these goals, by improving the system of review of appeals against the decisions of officials in administrative courts, to expand the field of judicial control, to strengthen judicial control over the investigation by further developing the institution of "habeas corpus", to ensure real equality and dispute between the parties in court proceedings. in order to implement the principles of "single window" in the court system, to introduce a system of accepting applications and sending them to the competent court, regardless of their relevance to the court, as well as to ensure the resolution of all legal consequences within the framework of a specific case, to gradually develop the court system - to fundamentally increase the level of access to justice for citizens and business entities through step-by-step digitization, eliminating bureaucratic confusion and obstacles, creating the necessary organizational and legal conditions for the wide use of alternative methods of conflict resolution, using the institution of reconciliation to further expand the scope, to further increase the role of the bodies of the judicial community in ensuring the true independence of the judiciary, to widely introduce the principle of self-management of judges and to prevent illegal influence on judges due to the implementation of large-scale works on creating mechanisms, ensuring openness and transparency in the formation of the judiciary, introducing democratic principles such as election and accountability in the appointment to leadership positions in the judicial system, systematization of normative legal documents regulating the judicial system the works being carried out will not be without their results. Of course, the work in this regard serves to protect human interests.

 At this point, it should be said that justice is one of the important areas of state activity, protecting the rights and legal interests of citizens with the help of the court is a special legal form of their social protection.

The national legislation of each country, regardless of the norms of international law, has strengthened the legal status of judges and law enforcement officers, procedural legislation in the national framework. Therefore, it was considered that this case only belongs to the competence of the national legislation.

The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the UN in December 1966, specifically stated that an independent judiciary plays an important role in the protection of human rights. Article 14 of this document, ratified by the Parliament of our country on August 31, 1995, states that all persons are equal before courts and tribunals, and that each person, when a criminal charge against him is being considered or his rights and duties are being determined in any civil process, is in accordance with the law. it was determined that this case has the right to be considered fairly and openly by an authoritative, independent and impartial court.

As a result of the adoption of the Decree No. PF-6127 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 7, 2020 "On measures to ensure the true independence of judges and increase the effectiveness of preventing corruption in the judicial system", the true independence of judges in our country Consistent efforts are being made to improve the system of provision, selection of qualified personnel, training and appointment to the judicial profession, as well as increasing citizens' trust in justice.

While emphasizing the importance of the principle of independence of the judiciary, it is not without reason that as a fully independent branch of the government, ensuring that the courts obey only the law deserves special attention.

Also, in Article 8 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Courts" there is legality, in Article 9 the independence of judges, in Article 10 the binding nature of court documents, in Article 11 equality before the law and in court, in Article 12 transparency of court proceedings. , in Article 13 the language of court proceedings, in Article 14 the right to be protected by the court, in Article 15 qualified legal assistance in the administration of justice, in Article 16 the presumption of innocence, in Article 17 the right to appeal against a court document is defined in principle.

Of course, it is no exaggeration to say that the determination of the rules in this regard at the level of the law helps to ensure the implementation of justice in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In the implementation of justice, it is worth noting that ensuring the rule of law, strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of the individual, family, society and the state, increasing the legal culture and legal awareness of the population, educating citizens in the spirit of obedience and respect for the law - this is based on a developed market economy. building a truly democratic, legal state  and not only the goal of forming a free civil society, rather, it is its tool, its most important condition.  The independence of judges and obedience to the law, the non-allowance of any interference in their judicial activities, as well as the independence of the judiciary from the legislative and executive authorities, have their place in the reforms carried out in the field of judiciary in our country deeply expressed.

The principle of justice only by the court is also of great importance.  This means that according to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, justice in criminal cases can be carried out only by the court. According to this principle, no state body other than the court can find any person guilty and impose punishment on him for the crime. This principle applies in many countries of the world. It is compatible and integrated with the principle of separation of powers, which means the independence of judicial bodies. The independence of the judiciary is guaranteed by constitutional norms, such as the irreplaceability of judges, their personal integrity, the fact that judges are accountable only to the law for their decisions, the establishment of emergency courts, and the fact that courts are financed only from the budget.

Judicial bodies protect the rights of a person by conducting constitutional, civil, economic, administrative and criminal court cases. Every citizen, if he believes that his rights or freedoms have been violated by the illegal actions (decisions) of state bodies, enterprises, institutions, organizations, public associations, citizens' self-government bodies or officials, shall file a complaint has the right to appeal to the court.

Solving the task of ensuring constitutional guarantees requires comprehensive strengthening of judicial power and the implementation of the provisions of the concept of reforming the judicial system, because only a strong and independent judicial power as a judicial body can create an opportunity for the formation of a legal state, the development of democracy, and the effective protection of universal values, individual rights and freedoms.

A democratic legal state cannot be established unless the rule of law and the protection of human rights and freedoms are ensured. In this regard, the study of issues related to the legal status of judges from a scientific and practical point of view has a special place. In order to ensure the independence of the courts and only obedience to the law, as defined in the Action Strategy, the determination of the first five-year term, then ten years, and then the indefinite term of being a judge is of great importance. Because this order of being in the position of a judge requires the judge to perform the task entrusted to him in an exemplary and conscientious manner, as well as to be re-elected or appointed to his position for the next term, and after performing his duties in an exemplary manner, to be elected or appointed for ten years and even for an indefinite period. is also an incentive rule.

Kudrat Matkarimov,

Associate professor of the Department Judicial, law enforcement agencies

 and advocacy of Tashkent State University of Law