The present report of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) concerns a submission of the ICJ of comments to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Kazakhstan. In this submission, the ICJ wishes to draw the attention of the Working Group to issues of judicial independence, restrictions of the right to a fair trial, including the right of defence by a lawyer of choice and undue impediments to lawyers in the exercise of their professional functions; and to failures in legal and practical protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The ICJ refers to the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers with regard to the issue of freedom of expression.