Draft law on appointment of 3 Supreme Justice Court Judges arouses scandal

Parliament did not manage to appoint three Supreme Justice Court Judges on February 16. The draft law stirred up debates and even accusations among MPs, so that the draft law had to be sent for re-examination. The Higher Magistrates Council (HSC) proposed the appointment of 3 judges: Nelea Budai, Svetlana Caitaz, and Elvira Zinenco. During the hearing of the Legal Committee’s report, the Communist MP Vladimir Turcan mentioned that ECHR condemned Moldova in 3 cases in which Nelea Budai participated in judgements of the local courts. One of the cases referred to the illegality of People’s Christian Democrat Party. The cited source said that Elvira Zinenco has a work experience in courts of law lower than 16 years. The MPs qualified these allegations as an attempt of the communist faction to reject the 2 candidacies, terming it “political vote”. Leader of the Democrat Party’s faction Dumitru Diacov said it is not fair that Parliament does not vote the candidacies proposed by the HMC. MP of “Moldova Noastra” Alliance Leonid Bujor suggested either to vote all the three candidates, or to put off the issue. The communist MPs rejected the proposals. Referring to the condemnation of Moldova at ECHR in the case of PCDP, leader of the Christian-Democrat Party Vlad Cubreacov said it was not related to the decision of the court but to the intention of the ex-minister of Justice Ion Morei to destroy the party. Cubreacov said that Morei is the secretary of the Supreme Security Council and is backed by the communist party. Cubreacov says he does not want that several MPs break the fragile political stability, which is so appreciated by the foreign partners. He asked them to give up that attitude and vote the decision. After the debates, Cubreacov requested a 30 minute break for discussions. When the MPs returned to the sitting hall, Marian Lupu, Speaker of Parliament said the issue needed supplementary examination by the specialised committee and, so that it could be debated in Parliament again on February 22.