President Maia Sandu signed decrees to dismiss judge Vladislav Clima from the post of president of the Chisinau Appeals Court and three more judges based on their resignations, IPN reports.

The resignation tendered by Vladislav Clima was accepted by the Superior Council of Magistracy on March 18. Vladislav Clima was named president of the Chisinau Appeals Court by a decree signed by Igor Dodon on September 2, 2020, for a four-year term. His appointment was harshly criticized by the then opposition and by civil society, which said that judge Clima is one of those who upheld the decision to invalidate the Chisinau mayoral elections of 2018. In May 2021, President Maia Sandu annulled the decree to appoint Vladislav Clima as president of the Chisinau Appeals Court, but the latter annulled the presidential decree. Consequently, the presidential administration challenged the ordinary court’s ruling and a final decision hasn’t been yet taken.

The other three dismissed judges are Ion Cazacu, who was suspended from post in 2014 after he accepted 10,000 lei from a culprit and was tried for bribery, but returned to the system in 2019 after being acquitted, Tudor Berdilă of the Cahul Appeals Court, who last year was seen at a meeting with one of the lawyers for fugitive MP Ilan Șor, and Sergiu Bulgaru, of the Chisinau Appeals Court, who accepted the request to suspend the sentence of Veaceslav Platon.

The decrees were signed on March 21 and take effect when they are published in the Official Gazette.