Lawyer Vitalie Taulean requested criminally investigating the president of the Rascani district court of Chisinau Oleg Melniciuc for interference in doing justice. In a news conference at IPN, the lawyer said that Melniciuc is protected by the Supreme Council of Magistrates and thus considers that he can act as he wants.

Vitalie Taulean informed that on June 16 he filed an application to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Supreme Council of Magistrates, asking taking legal action against the president of the Rascani district court because he influenced the panel of judges in a case that he represents in court.

“These things earlier took place behind the scenes, but this time this impertinent judge intervened in the hearing and instructed a judge how to act in the process of examining an application to remove judge Elena Cobzac from a trial. Oleg Melniciuc entered the courtroom two times and ordered that the judge should close the case the same day. He then shut the door and we all were shocked. If I, as a lawyer, shut the door like this, I remained without a license the next day,” stated Vitalie Taulean.

He also said that he asked substituting Elena Cobzac because she allowed replacing the defense illegally. “I was summoned to appear in court on May 28, only one day before the hearing. I informed the court that I cannot come to the trial because I had two hearings that day – one in Hancesti and another one in Straseni. The judge, without issuing a reasonable motivation for replacing the defense, decided to extend the arrest warrant. This is nothing but violation of the defendants’ right to defense,” said the lawyer.

Vitalie Taulean noted that a lawyer can be replaced within five days before the trial and only with the defendant’s consent. In this case, the defendants were against. The judge could not announce judiciary debates without announcing the end of the judiciary investigation. As to Oleg Melniciuc, he should be held accountable for the way he intervened in the trial because the judges must be independent and impartial and nobody from outside can intervene in hearings.