Efforts to reform justice sector produced formal results, report

The justice reform in Moldova continued to be the general priority of the government and the institutions involved in the related processes in 2011. But the made efforts produced formal results. There were approved the justice sector reform strategy and the action plan, but the obtaining of foreign resources for their implementation remains a priority. The given conclusions are contained in the quarterly report “Euromonitor”, Info-Prim Neo reports. Specialists of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) and the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup” consider that the reforms in the justice sector did not produce the results expected by people and representatives of the judiciary. “Confidence in justice continued to decrease, while the views on the reforms implemented in the system haven’t been consensual and haven’t earned considerable support. The legal system in Moldova continues to be perceived as non-independent and not fully efficient,” the experts say in the second number of the publication. According to the authors, the reforms in justice didn’t have a perceptible impact. The people’s trust in the institutions of the justice system diminished two times over the last two years. According to opinion polls, only about 18% of the people have confidence in justice. The key reform measures in justice described in the government program are implemented inappropriately. No measure of the planned 85 has been fully carried out. Twelve general and continuous measures are under implementation. The specialists of ADEPT and “Expert-Grup” say that in order to feel the effects of the reform, representatives of justice should be actively involved in the carried out processes. Effort should be made to technologize certain processes and simplify and optimize the legal procedures. One of the legal amendments stipulated in the justice sector reform strategy came into force on March 13. It provides for the transformation of the economic courts into commercial courts. The Economic Court of Appeals was liquidated.