The Superior Council of Magistracy/CSM rejected today, September 24, the request of a group of judges to convene the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly of Judges, IPN reports.
The interim chair of the CSM, Dorel Musteață, specified that, in fact, there was no verification of the signatory judges, as stated in the media. "The situation that has been created in the system is critical I would say and actually reflects the situation in the country. A group of judges, behind whom is a shadow group, organized the collecting of signatures of judges. Some have been misled. Others, in my opinion, have been working with this shadow group. And they submitted this request to the Superior Council of Magistracy in order to convene the extraordinary meeting of the Assembly of Judges with a view to terminating from their positions the members of the Council”, stated Nina Cernat, member of the CSM. In her opinion, the action is an attempt to block the Council’s activity, and in the stead of the current members to bring people who would "serve this group of people who are in the shadow".
The judges' request was rejected with eight “for” votes and one “against”. The decision can be appealed against in Chisinau Court of Appeal within 30 days.
At the end of the meeting, the interim CSM chairman stated that the question regarding the execution of the court decision that obligated the Council to convene the General Assembly of Judges was not included on the agenda. "Moreover, an appeal is already being prepared, which also requires the suspension of the execution. And at the next meeting, the question regarding the decision at issue will be discussed”, said Dorel Musteață. According to him, it is possible that the next meeting could be convened during this week.
At the meeting on September 19, the CSM postponed the examination of the request of a group of judges to convene the General Assembly of Judges. The members of the Council ordered a judicial inspection to verify under what conditions the signatures were collected from the magistrates, more precisely if they knew what they were signing. Then, several judges described the CSM's decision to order the inspection as an intimidation action.
On September 20, the Chisinau Court of Appeal ordered the CSM to convene the General Assembly of Judges, at the initiative of at least 50 judges, after a group of incumbent judges went to court.
