The lawyers for ex-Premier Vlad Filat on June 9 filed an application of exception of unconstitutionality concerning two articles of the Penal Procedure Code and the Buiucani Court of Chisinau accepted it, IPN reports.
Thus, at the request of Filat’s lawyers, the Constitutional Court is to pronounce on the constitutionality of Article 321 of the Penal Procedure Code concerning the participation by the defendant in hearings and the effects of non-presentation and of Article 362 of the same Code concerning the trying of the case in the absence of a party or of the summoned witnesses.
The lawyers took such a step after a number of witnesses for the defense didn’t present themselves at hearings according to the citation. “We tried to explain that it is not the duty of the defense to bring witnesses to court. This is against the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The witnesses must be brought to court by judges,” explained lawyer Igor Popa.
According to him, the judges made a ruling to suspend the trial in the case of Filat until the Constitutional Court pronounces on the matter. However, the judges set the next hearing in this case for next Tuesday.
Igor Popa noted that his client will not make statements in court until his rights are respected, including the right to have public hearings. He wondered why the prosecutors didn’t annex the statements made by Vlad Filat in the pretrial period to the case.
Anticorruption prosecutor Adriana Betisor confirmed that the Buiucani Court accepted the application of exception of unconstitutionality. Earlier, she said that none of the defense witnesses are relevant in this case.
Vlad Filat faces 7 to 10 years in jail for influence peddling and passive corruption. He pleads not guilty.
