Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco said he familiarized himself with the Venice Commission’s opinion about the amendments to the law on the prosecution service that were adopted by Parliament in August 2021. Even if there are specific features in the Republic of Moldova and event if the opinion is consultative, not mandatory, this will be taken into consideration when taking decisions later, IPN reports.
“Even if in the Republic of Moldova we have some particularities that do not exist in other states, especially the capture of state institutions by oligarchic groups and the use of the judiciary for private purposes, and even if the opinion of the Commission formally is consultative in character, the recommendations of this prestigious institution of the Council of Europe will be examined with the greatest attention and will be taken into account for the subsequent decisions,” stated the minister.
He noted that in consultation with national and foreign experts, measures will be taken to adjust the national legislation to all the Venice Commission’s recommendations. Simultaneously, the justice sector reform that is urgently needed by the people and by the Republic of Moldova will be continued.
MPs of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists said the Venice Commission’s opinion is very critical, primarily of the suspension of the prosecutor general and of his deputies and also of the fact that the Superior Council of Prosecutors is being subjugated. “On December 13, the Venice Commission published its opinion about the amendments made by PAS in summer to the law on the prosecution service. The same conclusions were formulated by us in summer, when we announced that the amendments to the law on the prosecution service were made by PAS with one goal – to name a pocket prosecutor general and to politically subjugate an important institution of our country, the Superior Council of Prosecutors,” Socialist MP Vasile Bolea told a news conference.
In its opinion, the Venice Commission recommended that the work of the Superior Council of Prosecutors should be regulated in the Constitution so as to avoid eventual arbitrary amendments to the law, and that the current procedure for assessing the prosecutor general should be modified by introducing clearer assessment criteria. It criticized the hurry in which the legislative amendments were adopted, in the absence of broad discussions with civil society.
