The bill to amend the Constitution that was given a first reading by Parliament represents a consensus between the government and the opposition. Both representatives of PAS and of PSRM are sure that the amendments will contribute to reforming the justice sector in the Republic of Moldova and will offer the judges more independence from the political factor, IPN reports.
In accordance with the bill to amend the Supreme Law that was given a first reading by the legislature on September 16, the judges will benefit only from functional immunity and they will not enjoy immunity in cases of bribery and influence peddling. Also, the preliminary employment period of five years for judges is excluded. The judges will be named by the President at the suggestion of the Supreme Council of Magistracy up to the age limit.
“It is an extremely dangerous instrument as the judges during the five-year period try to please the politicians given that their appointment for the next term depends on the vote of these. At the same time, even if the trial period is excluded, the judges are assessed at different periods, in three years or in five years, as the legislation provides, and they anyway go through this filter. If the judge committed an irregularity, this will leave the system as we anyway have sufficient instruments for removing them. The trial period was an archaic element kept in the Republic of Moldova because the politicians like when the judge calls and asks what decision to take in a particular case,” ex-minister of justice Fadei Nagacevschi, currently adviser to the Socialist parliamentary group, stated in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel.
The representatives of the government consider the amendments to the Constitution will ensure the judiciary’s increased autonomy. This way, if the Supreme Law is amended, the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice will also be named by the President at the proposal of SCM, as all the other judges, Parliament being excluded from the appointment process.
“In the judicial system, there are political tools for influencing processes. This trial period of five years on the appointment of judges is one of these instruments. The judiciary cannot clean itself up from inside and someone should clean it from outside. The political class is cleaned through elections by the citizens. We must build a judicial system that would function absolutely autonomously from the political class,” said PAS MP Vladimir Bolea.
The bill to amend the Constitution was adopted by Parliament after giving it a first reading by the votes of 56 MPs of the Party of Action and Solidarity. Under the law, after the final reading the bills to amend the Supreme Law are passed by the votes of 2/3 of the MPs and take effect in six months of the publication in the Official Gazette.
