A number of jurists of the Republic of Moldova disapprove of the ruling party’s intention to amend the law on the prosecution service so as to make the dismissal of the Prosecutor General possible after assessing the work done by this. According to experts, this is will be a dangerous precedent that will make the Prosecutor General dependent on the government. For his part, the minister of justice says the bill is constitutional, IPN reports.

The head of the Legal Resources Center Vladislav Gribincea said the government’s initiative to discharge the Prosecutor General as a result of an assessment is dangerous and represents political interference in justice.

“The criticism leveled at the Prosecutor’s Office is mostly reasonable as this didn’t meet the expectations of society. But the prosecutors should be independent from politics as, if they depend on the politicians, they will never go against the latter. A dangerous precedent is set as Parliament amends the law so as to remove a Prosecutor. In four years, we will have another government that will again dismiss the Prosecutor General. Nothing of the independence of the Prosecutor’s Office will remain,” Vladislav Gribincea stated in the program “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.

Neither the former president of the Constitutional Court Alexandru Tănase approves of the proposed amendment.

“Those who took over power in the Republic of Moldova haven‘t yet overcome the election fever. Even if they have the people’s mandate, this mandate should be exercised in strict compliance with the Constitution. When they invoke the necessity of assessing the work of the prosecutor, they cheat. They should say that in reality they want another Prosecutor General. We have the experience of meritocratic commissions, contests that weren’t respected even by those who organized them. It is an old, Soviet method, when the power is exercised exclusively with repressive instruments, not with legal and institutional instruments,” stated Alexandru Tănase.

For his part, Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco said that by introducing the mechanism for assessing the work of the Prosecutor General, they want to make this responsible.

“The bill is perfectly constitutional as the Supreme Law clearly provides that the Prosecutor General can be dismissed by the President at the suggestion of the Superior Council of Prosecutors for objective reasons, based on a transparent procedure. Practically, the Constitution imposes the institution of mechanisms for dismissing the Prosecutor General if this does not achieve results or commits a disciplinary deviation. The final decision will be taken exclusively by the Superior Council of Prosecutors. It is a law that makes the Prosecutor General more responsible,” stated Sergiu Litvinenco.  

The bill to amend the law on the prosecution service envisions the constitution of a commission for assessing the activity of the Prosecutor General. Later, the commission’s report is transmitted to the Superior Council of Prosecutors. If the Prosecutor’s activity is described as “failed”, the Council will suggest that the President should dismiss the Prosecutor General.