In the West Kazakhstan Region, a woman was detained at the Taskala border checkpoint after a document check revealed she held two passports — a Kazakh and a foreign one. Despite violating citizenship laws, the extreme measure of expulsion from the country was not applied to her, reports infohub.kz.
As explained by the press service of the West Kazakhstan Regional Court, the administrative case was heard by the Taskala District Court. The woman was accused of violating the citizenship legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
"During a document check at the Taskala border checkpoint, it was discovered that the woman held a passport of another state while retaining documents as a citizen of Kazakhstan," the court's representatives told NUR.KZ.
Under current national norms, dual citizenship is strictly prohibited. When obtaining a passport from another state, citizens are required to notify the relevant authorities within a set period and surrender their Kazakh documents.
The sanction under the article of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan for such an offense provides for either a large fine or forced expulsion from the country.
During the court hearing, the offender fully admitted her guilt.
In issuing its decision, the court showed leniency and took into account mitigating circumstances. Since the woman's close relatives permanently reside in Kazakhstan, the court decided not to apply the extreme measure of deportation, limiting the penalty to an administrative fine. This decision allowed the family to remain intact and kept the woman from being separated from her loved ones.