The ex-president of the Constitutional Court Alexandru Tănase recommends the legislative body to start discussions with representatives of the judiciary and to continue the justice sector reform only as a result of a broad consensus, in strict compliance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, IPN reports.
“As regards the opinions presented by the Venice Commission the past three years, the press regrettably presented them very superficially and truncated the information to provide data that suited the ruling party. In general, we didn’t have any opinion by which the Venice Commission would have fully approved the debated bill. There were a number of opinions on the assessment of judges, the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice, the prosecution service, but they were critical. Dialogue and full transparency should be now ensured. Parliament should avoid adopting dedicated laws to solve particular situations as the laws are not passed for concrete stations. They should be general in character,” Alexandru Tănase stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
Judge Victoria Sanduța in the same program leveled criticism at the MPs for not allowing the judges to choose their representatives in the Superior Council of Magistracy as these were put in the situation to choose from among those who passed the pre-vetting. She said that the General Assembly of Judges was interrupted until the Supreme Court of Justice pronounces on the challenges filed by persons who didn’t pass the pre-vetting.
“Given the exceptions of unconstitutionality, the Supreme Court of Justice cannot state its opinion before the Constitutional Court pronounces on the issue so that the examinations of challenges could be finished. We should not ignore the fact that the Constitutional Court ruled that an exception in this pre-vetting law was unconstitutional. That’s why we should not hurry so as to join the European Union as later, in 12 years, the ECHR can oblige us to pay damages and not the current government, but the citizens will pay,” stated the judge.
Representatives of the government said the justice sector reform will continue regardless of the resistance put up by the system. PAS MP Vasile Gradinaru said the Superior Council of Magistracy will soon become functional and the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice will start shortly afterward.
“We questioned several non-judge members who passed the testing and these are to be accepted by the legal commission on Thursday and will be then confirmed by Parliament on Thursday or on Friday. The SCM will become functional. The process will be unlocked,” said Vasile Grădinaru, noting the judges said the SCM is political, but they could have elected six of the 12 members of this Council, but didn’t do it.
The Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities examined three non-judge candidates for the posts of SCM members. These are Alexandru Postica, Tatiana Ciaglic and Ion Guzun. The three candidates are to be confirmed by Parliament.
