Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev on September 24 appointed Askar Shakirov as the country's new human rights ombudsman after parliament approved his nomination, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Shakirov, who is 51, served as the chairman of the Kazakh Finance Ministry's customs committee from February 2006 to June 2007. He replaces Bolat Baykadamov, who was appointed in September 2002 when the position was initially created by the president, and whose five-year term as ombudsman recently expired (see "RFE/RL Newsline," September 23, 2002). According to the terms of the decree establishing the position, the ombudsman is empowered to monitor the observance of human rights nationwide but is officially barred from any "interference with the work of either the police or the judicial system" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," September 20, 2002). Published in: Kazakh President Appoints New Human-Rights Ombudsman, RFE/RL Newsline, 25 September 2007.
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