68% of hearings on cases concerning April 7 have been postponed, IDOM

The Moldovan Institute for Human Rights (IDOM) says that 68% of the hearings on cases concerning the April 7, 2009 events have been put off and the court did not penalize the parties that did not attend the trial. The data were made public during the presentation of the final report “Monitoring the Judging of the Legal Cases over the April 7 Events”, Info-Prim Neo reports. IDOM expert Ion Graur said that most of the hearings were postponed because of the prosecutors, who do not make sure that the witnesses for the prosecution come to trial. “The monitoring of the hearings on cases concerning the April 7, 2009 events showed that the judges had in general a professional performance. Most of the judges had an independent and impartial behavior and treated the participants in the trial with respect,” said Ion Graur. The accused persons also had a respectful behavior towards the judges, except a case when an accused police officer came to the trial in uniform and with the gun, said the expert. According to IDOM expert Vasile Rotaru, examining the statements of the accused persons and the injured parties as well as of other persons, it was established that the police officers violated the arrest procedure. Vasile Rotaru said that in many cases the policemen acted without taking into account the obligation to examine the case. The relatives were informed about the place where the arrested persons were held in several hours. “Though the court decisions were based mainly on the examination of evidence in court and the court’s conclusion, most of them contained information about the investigation, indicating principally that the investigation bodies did not objectively and appropriately fulfill their duties,” said Vasile Rotaru. The final report “Monitoring the Judging of the Legal Cases over the April 7 Events” covered the period between January and October. The project was implemented by IDOM with financial support from Soros Foundation Moldova.