CAT/C/KAZ/CO/3 decisions relying disproportionately on evidence presented by the prosecution, an allegation that the Committee previously raised in the context of the trial of human rights defender Evgeniy Zhovtis. It is also concerned at reports of cases in which defendants were not permitted to attend appeal proceedings in person and that investigators can handpick Stateappointed defence lawyers, which serves as a disincentive for those lawyers to defend their clients. The Committee remains concerned at reports that there is a lack of judicial control over the actions of prosecutors and that judges are overly deferential to prosecutors owing to their lack of independence from the executive branch (arts. 2 and 10). The State party should undertake structural reform of the system of administration of justice with a view to balancing in practice and ensuring equality of arms between the respective roles of the procurator and the defence counsel in judicial proceedings and ensuring the independence of the judiciary. The State party should reform the system of prosecution and subject procurators to greater oversight by judges. Defence lawyers should be allowed to collect and present evidence from the outset of judicial proceedings and to call defence witnesses, and should have prompt, effective and unimpeded access to all evidence in the hands of the prosecution. Non-refoulement 16. While noting the adoption of the Refugee Law, the Committee is concerned that current procedures and practices on expulsion, refoulement and extradition, including the acceptance of diplomatic assurances, may not be in conformity with the State party’s obligations under article 3 of the Convention. The Committee is concerned that asylum applications by Syrian and Ukrainian nationals are routinely rejected and that individuals continue to be extradited under bilateral or multilateral extradition agreements and international and regional instruments such as the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters and the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism. It is also concerned that asylum seekers and refugees from Uzbekistan and China are particularly vulnerable to expulsion, return and extradition. The Committee notes reports that it has received concerning instances in which asylum seekers registered with the Migration Police Department were forcibly returned to their countries of origin before the decisions on their asylum claims and before decisions on appeals of rejected asylum claims had been issued. The Committee is also concerned at the State party’s admission that it solicits and relies on diplomatic assurances from Governments that individuals returned to their custody will not be subjected to torture or ill-treatment, as in the case of the 28 asylum seekers returned by the State party to Uzbekistan in 2012 pursuant to diplomatic assurances, and whom the Committee decided should be returned to Kazakhstan and provided with redress (art. 3). The State party should: (a) Take all the necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation of the principle of non-refoulement, inter alia by bringing its legislation, procedures and practices into line with article 3 of the Convention; (b) Ensure the equal treatment of all asylum seekers and refugees without discrimination and introduce complementary protection status for persons who are not formally recognized as refugees; (c) Ensure that adequate judicial mechanisms exist for the review of decisions and provide sufficient legal defence and guarantees for persons subject to extradition or return, establish administrative and judicial guidelines and criteria for determining the risk of torture and allow such persons to lodge an effective appeal with suspensive effect on the extradition or return; 8