Lawyers on June 26 mounted a protest against the excessive use of preventive arrest. They said the imposing of arrest on their clients has now became a rule for the judges. The judges accept prosecutors’ applications without examining these and reject lawyers’ appeals. The conditions in which the detainees are held are inhuman and degrading. The protest was mounted at the Chisinau Appeals Court on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, IPN reports.
The lawyers noted that even if they are part of trials, the prosecutors and judges ignore them in the hearings. The attacks against them increased in number. The lawyers plead for drafting a legislative initiative that would enable to prosecute lawyers only with the consent of the Lawyers Union.
Lawyer Eduard Digore said a total rupture between the judge, prosecutor and lawyer is witnessed in hearings. The judges accept without examining prosecutors’ applications and ignore lawyers’ appeals. An open dialogue should exist between the sides on the state of justice in Moldova.
Chairman of the Legal Resources Center Vladislav Gribincea said the lawyers’ protest is a sign for the authorities showing that the judiciary in Moldova does not work in the interests of the citizens. He called on his colleagues to make common cause and, if the state of affairs does not change as a result of the protest, to boycott the cases to examine the imposition or extension of arrest.
People’s ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai supported the lawyers in their approach. In a press statement, he said that in his activity he identified the same violations of the right to liberty and security and the detention of persons in inhuman and degrading conditions. He backs the efforts to make the courts of law obey the legislation on the imposition of arrest as a preventive measure.
In a press release issued after the protest, the Prosecutor General’s Office said the courts of law in 2017 imposed 19,300 preventive measures, mainly the obligation to present oneself at the prosecution body or the court (6,300 persons). Preventive arrest was applied to 2,400 persons.
