The Shor Party said the Cahul Town Appeals Court on May 12 accepted one of the requests of the lawyers for the party’s leader Ilan Shor to allow the hearings to be public. The court rejected yet the request of the new lawyers to offer them enough time to familiarize themselves with the case, IPN reports.

“Ilan Shor repeatedly asked for the hearings in his case to be made public so that the press could take place and the citizens could find out the truth about the bank fraud firsthand. After a number of rejections, the defense of Ilan Shor on May 12 persuaded the court as to the necessity of satisfying the public interest in this case,” the party said in a press release.

The next hearing was scheduled for May 18.

In June 2017, Ilan Shor was sentenced to seven years and a half in jail for causing damage to the state by swindle and abuse of trust. The sentence was appealed and Shor was transferred from house arrest under judicial control. In February 2018, the case was transferred to the Cahul Town Appeals Court.

In July 2019, immediately after the PDM conceded power, Ilan Shor fled Moldova in breach of the ban imposed of him. A new criminal case was started against him for illegally leaving the country. On August 15, 2019, Parliament decided to lift his parliamentary immunity.