A number of civil society organizations expressed their concern about the ‘tense’ situation in the justice sector and formulated a series of recommendations for overcoming the current crisis. In a joint statement, these said the current situation is due to factors from inside the judicial system and from outside it, IPN reports.

According to them, the decision of March 31, 2023 by which the Commission for Exceptional Situations banned the resignation by judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and suspended the resignations tendered earlier by SCJ judges is the main reason that generated this impasse.

“The state of emergency should not be used to take measures that pursue other goals than those for which this state was declared. Another factor is related to the resignations tendered by the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice before Parliament adopted the new law on the SCJ. This fact practically leads to the blocking of the work of the SCJ from the middle of April 2023,” runs the statement.

The postponement of the election of judges in the Supreme Council of Magistracy (SCM) by the General Assembly of Judges until April 28, 2023 is another factor. “The reason for the delay is the challenges against the pre-vetting commission’s decisions, which haven’t been dealt with even if the legal time frame for examining these challenges expired. Also, concern is generated by the public statements made by the president of the General Assembly of Judges Anatolie Țurcan, who revealed particular intentions to follow and to illegally collect information about candidates for the posts of SCM member.” In this regard, the civil society organizations ask the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate these intentions.

The organizations also ask to make known all the circumstances based on which the CES decision of March 31, 2023 was taken, to ensure an inclusive dialogue so as to operationalize the new composition of the SCM and to name the eligible candidate to this body.

The statement was signed by the Human Rights Embassy, the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, the Journalistic Investigations Center of Moldova, the Legal Resources Center from Moldova, WatchDog.md Community, the Institute for Public Policy, the Moldovan Institute for Human Rights, the Institute for European Policies and Reforms, the Laboratory of Initiatives for Development, and Transparency International Moldova.