President Maia Sandu said the Constitutional Court’s decision to declare unconstitutional the article based on which Alexandr Stoianoglo was assessed does not hamper the authorities’ plan to name a new Prosecutor General. According to the official, the CC declared unconstitutional an article that no longer exists in the legislation and the new aspirants for the post of chief of the Prosecutor General’s Office will take the extraordinary assessment test, as the candidates for SCM and SCP members do, IPN reports.
On November 9, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional an article of the law on the prosecution service, which delegated the Superior Council of Prosecutors to establish the criteria for assessing the performance of the Prosecutor General. President Maia Sandu said the Parliament earlier put this legal flaw right.
“The Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional an article that no longer exists as the Venice Commission pronounced before the Constitutional Court and said that the article wasn’t sufficiently good. Later, Parliament amended the law on the assessment of the Prosecutor General. Respectively, this verdict of the Constitutional Court refers to something that no longer exist,” President Sandu stated in the program “At 360 Degrees” on Radio Moldova station.
According to the official, the Court’s deduction doesn’t change the authorities’ plan to appoint a new Prosecutor General. The new head of the Prosecutor General’s Office will be subject to the vetting procedure that includes the assessment of the financial and professional integrity of the person.
“This doesn’t change the assessment results in the case of the former Prosecutor General and this doesn’t change our plans, including the European Union’s condition to have a new process for selecting the Prosecutor General and to also test the integrity. Those who want to compete for the post of Prosecutor General will also have to take the integrity test, as the other candidates for posts in the Superior Council of Magistracy, the Superior Council of Prosecutors, the Supreme Court of Justice do,” stated Maia Sandu.
Earlier, the lawyers for Alexandr Stoianoglo challenged in court President Sandu’s decree to dismiss him from the post of Prosecutor General. It happened after the ECHR ruled in favor of Alexandr Stoianoglo, finding that the procedure by which he was suspended from post was violated.
