The clearing of the state institutions of discredited people is the short-term priority of the justice sector reform, Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco stated in the “Justice Sector Reform and Corruption Fighting” Forum that was staged by the Legal Resources Center from Moldova. He noted it is important to at least stop the thefts of public money in the public sector. During the first months of the new government’s mandate, they named managers who want to launch this process. The external assessment of judges and prosecutors is among the medium- and long-term priorities, IPN reports.
The minister noted that attempts to change things inside the justice system were made earlier too, but they didn’t produce results. That’s why this extraordinary external assessment of judges and prosecutors will be now applied. They are also considering introducing filers in the process of selecting members of the Superior Council of Magistracy and the Superior Council of Prosecutors so as to make sure that all the candidates meet the minimum integrity requirements.
Sergiu Litvinenco underlined the necessity of obtaining external support for the reform, noting that all the international standards concerning the extraordinary external assessment should be respected. The justice sector reform will not be continued until the Venice Commission pronounces on the justice sector reform strategy and rules that it meets the international standards. Also, there should be an institution that would fight grand corruption as this is the biggest problem of the Republic of Moldova.
For her part, Simona Granata-Menghini, director/secretary of the Venice Commission, in the forum said that the justice sector reform and the prosecution service reform are devoted attention. The Venice Commission adopted six opinions in 2019-2020. Two more opinions are being prepared. These refer to the amendment of the law on the prosecution service, to the requirements concerning the candidates for member of the Superior Council of Magistracy and the Superior Council of Prosecutors and the assessment of the integrity and professionalism of judges and prosecutors.
“A lot was said about the independence of justice in Moldova and we all agree that independence is an indispensable element of the justice sector reform in a modern and democratic state. We want to underline from the start that we want to see not only an independent justice system as a combination of very successful formulations of provisions of the Constitution, but also primarily a system that is essential for the achievement of the aspirations of each citizen of Moldova to protect their rights,” stated Simona Granata-Menghini.
“In the reformation of the justice sector, one ingredient is most often insufficient,” said Vlad Gribincea, executive director of the legal Resources Center from Moldova. “The vision, knowledge of the way in which the current system works, the ability to understand what is the most important and what can be left aside, together with proper communication, transparency, organization and planning of the reform, can turn out to be at least as important,” stated Vlad Gribincea, referring to the components of the justice sector reform.
The forum is held in Chisinau on November 18 and 19.
