Lawyer Vitalie Taulean asks to investigate Judge Sergei Ciobanu of the Military Court of Law because this insults and intimates trial participants. The victims filed a number of complaints to the Supreme Council of Magistracy, but this tolerates and hushes up the offenses committed by the judge.

In a news conference at IPN, Vitalie Taulean said the judge imposed eight judicial penalties on him with the aim of intimidating him. Furthermore, the judge made ordinances to sequester his entire property. He was also banned from leaving the country and from applying for foreign papers. “When a lawyer is intimidated by a judge by such methods, there is no mechanism by which to stop these wrongdoings. What the ordinary people can do in such a situation?” he asked.

Vitalie Taulean also said that Judge Sergei Ciobanu passed 15 illegal protocol judgments in different cases. “The complaints that were submitted to the Supreme Council of Magistracy weren’t taken into consideration. These were rejected as groundless,” said the lawyer. According to him, the deliberate passing of illegal judgments carries penalties.

The lawyer noted that all the illegalities committed by the judge were presented to the Supreme Council of Magistracy, but the institution didn’t react. “The complaints filed against the judge occupy 50 pages. There were lodged 14 complaints against the illegalities of this judge, but the Council does not react,” he stated.

Lawyer Lucia Maier, who defended the injured party in a case tried by Judge Ciobanu, said it is hard to defend a client when you do not have access to the proceedings and when the time available to a lawyer in a hearing is not respected. “My client was invited to the hearing in 11 months. This way her rights to defense and free access to justice were violated,” she stated.

The lawyers also said that there are other cases of abuse committed by Judge Serghei Ciobanu, including the fact that he obliges servicemen to repair his personal car.