The Chisinau Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling of October 2022 to terminate the prosecution against former Interior Minister Alexandru Jizdan, leading prosecutors to drop their charges of illicit enrichment and provision of false asset-related information.

The Special Cases Prosecution Service (PCCOCS) recalls that in 2021 the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office initially decided not to prosecute. But in the summer of 2022, the interim Prosecutor General saw omissions in that decision and ordered the investigation to be resumed.

In October 2022, the Chișinău/Ciocana Court ruled the prosecution to be terminated as unfounded, and the PCCOCS appealed. However, the irreversibility of the latest decision by the Chisinau Court of Appeals makes it impossible for prosecutors to continue pursuing the charges, the PCCOCS said.