The Chisinau Court of Appeals ordered retrying the case of Pascari-Pangalos that was started over the double murder committed in Chisinau three years ago. The case will be reexamined by the same court, but by another panel of judges. The culprits - two men who were aged 23 and, respectively, 25 when the crime was committed - remain under arrest. The decision to extend the arrest period can be appealed within 30 days, IPN reports.

According to the prosecutors, Andrei Pascari and Stanislav Pangalos were arrested in August 2010, on suspicion that they killed with extreme cruelty a man and his mother, stabbing them and then strangulating them with guitar strings in the victims’ apartment in Rascani district of Chisinau. The case was started over exceptionally serious murder. The first court sentenced the two to 20 years in jail each.

The killed man’s mother-in-law Ivana Shelkovski said after the May 8 hearing that neither the culprits nor their relatives apologized to them for the crime committed by the two during the trial. The man’s daughter, who remained orphan at the age of two, received no compensation even if the first court ruled that the culprits should pay by 2,000 lei monthly to her, until she comes of age.

The man’s father-in-law Alexandr Chernetz said the trial has lasted for about three years, but the definitive sentences hasn’t been passed yet. “The criminals must stay in prison because they pose a threat not only to our family, but also to other persons. The way they behave does not show that they regret their deeds,” he said, adding that all the proofs show that the two young men are guilty. Their fingerprints were found on the guitar strings by which they strangulated the victims and on the blade of the knife.

The culprits’ relatives and lawyer didn’t attend the hearing. The date of the next hearing wasn’t announced.