Available in Russian
Author: Irina Kuznetsova
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2026-1-30-52
Keywords: judicial independence guarantees; the status of constitutional court judges in the context of constitutional changes; institutional independence of the constitutional court; judicial independence. in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
The role of constitutional justice as a key element of the system of checks and balances among the branches of government increases the exposure of constitutional court judges to criticism and pressure regarding their decisions, particularly during periods of constitutional transformation. This article presents a comparative analysis of recent constitutional amendments in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, focusing on the provisions that affect specific institutional guarantees ensuring the independence of constitutional court judges. Within this framework, the author attempts to identify differences, as well as common trends and challenges, in organizing the institutional independence of constitutional review bodies in states with a shared historical background vis-à-vis other branches of government. The study examines the conditions and procedures for the formation of constitutional court compositions, the termination of judicial mandates, the acquisition of powers by court presidents and their deputies, as well as the institution of judicial review of constitutional court decisions, as provided by the legislation of the Central Asian states. The analysis reveals trends in changes to the numerical composition of courts, the participation of the same bodies (except in Kyrgyzstan) in procedures for appointing and terminating judges, and the enshrinement at the constitutional level of the rules for electing court presidents and their deputies, with a decisive role played by the heads of state. At the same time, the procedure for electing the president and deputy president of the court by the court itself — which most effectively ensures the independence of the court’s composition — remains in place only in Uzbekistan. The author concludes that changes to the status of constitutional courts and their judges largely correlate with the transformation of the political regime, whereas differences in legal regulation are determined by the state’s awareness of the significance of guarantees ensuring judicial independence and its commitment to their effective implementation.
About the author: Irina Kuznetsova – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Moscow, Russia.
Citation: Kuznetsova I. (2026) Garantii nezavisimosti sudey konstitutsionnykh sudov: tendentsii v Rossii i Tsentral'noy Azii [Guarantees of constitutional court judges independence: recent trends in Russia and Central Asia]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 30–52. (In Russian).
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