Foreigners committing increasing number of 'administrative offenses' in Kazakhstan

    By Alisher Akhmetov and Dinara Urazova
    Foreign nationals committed 2.5 times more 'administrative offenses' in Kazakhstan in 2014 than they did in 2012, Tengrinews reports, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
    In 2012, foreign citizen committed 62,037 administrative offenses, in 2013 - 90,421, while in 2014 this number rose to 156,937.
    Hence, an upward trend is clearly evident, officials claim.
    The ministry also noted efforts to hold foreign diplomats responsible for administrative offenses (original said: bringing foreign diplomats to administrative responsibility - KNL). "Foreign nationals who have immunity should be (original said - 'are prosecuted' - KNL) for administrative offenses on the same basis as everyone else," the Interior Ministry said.
    This issue was raised during a recent online conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yerlan Idrissov.
    On July 1, Idrissov said the Foreign Ministry was considering fining foreign diplomats for violating traffic rules based on the principle of reciprocity. He clarified the proposed penalties would be imposed on officials fr om those countries wh ere Kazakh diplomats had been fined, according to Tengrinews.