The ex-Premier Vlad Filat’s defense reacted to the statements made by prosecutor Adriana Betisor after the March 17 hearing, saying these violate the presumption of innocence. According to the lawyers, the prosecutor presented facts that are only being analyzed in the hearings as proven truths and this is not the first violation of the kind committed by Adriana Betisor, IPN reports.

In a press release, the defense says that it repeatedly drew the Moldovan authorities’ attention to the inadmissibility of abuses committed against Vlad Filat. “Such irresponsible actions on the part of the prosecution and investigation bodies will have negative consequences for the Republic of Moldova through convictions by the European Court of Human Rights and other international organizations or monitoring commissions,” it is said in the press release.

According to the defense, Adriana Betisor’s assertion that Ion Rusu said he received money from Ilan Shor for Vlad Filat is false. “Ion Rusu didn’t make such statements in the hearing. It should be noted that it is not for the first time that Adriana Betisor’s assertions about Ion Rusu do not correspond to the statements made by this in court,” stated the lawyers.

In another development, the defense noted that the Department of Penitentiary Institutions’ note saying that the cellmate of Vlad Filat is not a recidivist, but a person in remand detention is distorted and selective. According to the lawyers, the given person, in the discussions with Vlad Filat, admitted that he served 11 years at the Soroca-based Penitentiary No. 6 and that he was also held in Greece and Romania and is now investigated for acts of a sexual character.

After the March 17 hearing, Adriana Betisor, commenting on lawyer Igor Popa’s statements about the fact that the accused never took bribe from Ilan Shor and the latter actually offered Filat some ‘poisonous’ presents, said these were goods offered to influence particular persons from Banca de Economii and public figures who had connection with the additional issue of shares at this bank. Filat’s brother-in-law Ion Rusu, who is the main witness of the prosecution, says it clearly who he received the money from Ilan Shor for and how this money was transferred from Banca de Economii.