CHAPTER 19
INTELLIGENCE, SECURITY SERVICES, AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Article 119 — Intelligence and Security Services
Intelligence and security services may be established only by constitutional law and only for the constitutional purposes of protecting the Republic against grave threats defined by law.
Their mandates shall be specific, limited, and reviewable.
Intelligence and security services shall operate only on the basis of law, under democratic control, and subject to judicial authorization wherever rights are affected.
Secret law, undisclosed mandates, unofficial detention, and unaccountable covert structures are prohibited. The Prosecutor General and the parliamentary oversight committee shall have authority to identify, investigate, and dismantle any structure operating outside the constitutional mandate of intelligence and security services.
Intelligence and security services are absolutely prohibited from being directed or used against the civilian population of the Qazaq Republic or against persons exercising their constitutional rights, in accordance with Article 110a of this Constitution. Every officer and employee of any intelligence or security service has an unconditional constitutional duty to refuse any order to conduct operations — coercive, surveillance-based, or otherwise — directed against the people of Qazaq Republic as such. Obedience to such an order is a criminal offense and no security classification, operational necessity, or superior rank provides a defense.
Article 120 — Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services
Parliament shall establish a permanent specialized oversight committee for intelligence and security services, consisting of members with appropriate security clearances elected by Parliament from among deputies who are not members of the Government.
This committee shall have powers sufficient to examine: a) legality of operations; b) budgets and expenditure; c) internal compliance systems; d) respect for rights and freedoms; e) institutional integrity and political neutrality; f) compliance with Article 110a and Article 122 of this Constitution.
The oversight committee shall determine for itself what classified information is necessary for effective constitutional oversight. Intelligence and security services shall provide access within fourteen (14) days of a request; refusal requires a written statement of reasons subject to review by the Constitutional Court within thirty (30) days.
Classification may not be invoked to conceal unconstitutionality, corruption, abuse of office, violations of rights, or violations of Article 110a. The Constitutional Court may order declassification where constitutional violations are credibly alleged.
Article 121 — Judicial Control of Surveillance and Covert Measures
Surveillance, interception of communications, covert search, digital intrusion, data access, tracking, and other covert measures affecting rights shall require prior judicial authorization except in strictly defined urgent cases established by constitutional law.
Urgent exceptions shall: a) be narrowly framed; b) require ex post judicial review within twenty-four (24) hours; c) not be used to bypass the principle of judicial control.
Judicial authorization for surveillance shall specify the target, the measure authorized, and a maximum duration not exceeding six (6) months. Renewal requires a fresh judicial order. No person shall be subject to continuous surveillance for more than twelve (12) months without a new full judicial review.
A person who has been subject to surveillance shall be notified within six (6) months of the end of the operation, unless a court extends the notification delay for a specific, documented operational reason not exceeding a further six (6) months.
Evidence obtained in violation of this Article is inadmissible in judicial and administrative proceedings, except where admission is constitutionally required to prove torture, unlawful detention, or other grave abuse by state agents.
Article 122 — Political Neutrality and Prohibited Activities
Intelligence and security services shall not: a) support, oppose, finance, infiltrate, manipulate, or intimidate political parties, candidates, elected officials, journalists, civil associations, or peaceful social movements for political purposes; b) maintain political files on citizens based solely on lawful expression, association, religion, or electoral participation; c) influence the outcome of elections, referendums, legislative votes, or judicial proceedings; d) use disinformation, covert propaganda, or unlawful data operations against the population of the Republic.
Any violation of this Article is a grave constitutional offense. The Prosecutor General shall initiate criminal proceedings upon receiving a credible report from the parliamentary oversight committee, any court, the Ombudsman, or any person with evidence of such a violation. No official may obstruct such proceedings.
Article 123 — Transparency, Audit, and Remedies
Intelligence and security institutions shall be subject to: a) external audit by the supreme public audit institution established under Article 163 of this Constitution; b) internal legality control by an independent inspector within each service; c) annual reporting to the parliamentary oversight committee and a public summary report to Parliament; d) judicial remedies for violations of rights.
Persons unlawfully surveilled, detained, listed, profiled, or otherwise harmed by intelligence or security activity shall have the right to: a) compensation for harm caused; b) deletion of unlawfully collected data; c) access to information about what data was collected, subject to a maximum retention period of five (5) years for data on persons not charged with any offense; d) an independent complaints mechanism institutionally separate from the intelligence services.
Intelligence and security services shall not retain personal data on persons not charged with a criminal offense for more than five (5) years. Data retained beyond this period without a specific judicial order is unlawfully held and must be destroyed. Constitutional law shall establish a mandatory annual audit of data retention practices.