“The imprisonment of the first judge for acts of corruption shows that the justice sector reform started to produce results,” Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said in the program “Moldova Live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
Oleg Efrim stated that another at least five judges are under investigation. Disciplinary punishments started to be imposed more often. There were cases when the judges failed the professionalism test, while a number of judges left the system of their own accord. The Supreme Council of Magistrates now behaves more transparently.
“The psychological barrier that a judge can be jailed was overcome and this is important,” said Oleg Efrim. According to him, it’s impossible to change the system overnight, as society expects, especially if the judges represent the most competent contingent of jurists in the country.
Expert Pavel Midrigan, who earlier worked in the legal system, also considers that the anticorruption reforms began to produce results. “The judges became more disciplined, while the conviction of a judge for corruption will make the other judges more responsible,” he stated.
On April 8, a judge of the Telenesti Court was sentenced to seven years in jail for acts of corruption.
