Liquidation of specialized courts cannot solve problems of Moldova's legal system

The legislative initiative suggesting transferring the right to examine the judicial cases from the economic and military courts to the common law courts and liquidating these specialized courts will not help solve the problems faced in Moldova's legal system. The opinion was expressed at a roundtable meeting held by the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption at Info-Prim Neo on November 6. “The informative note to the bill says that the specialized courts showed their inefficiency in time. But no data are provided to confirm this. The assertion that specialized courts exist only in Eastern Europe is unfounded. Such courts exist in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Lithuania, Croatia,” said the Center's director Galina Bostan. She also said that the social effect of these changes cannot be neglected. Corneliu Gurin, expert of the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, said the bill should be accompanied by an analysis of the impact that it will have and provide economic and financial arguments. “The economic effect of the liquidation of the specialized courts is not clear. The cost at which the specialized panels of judges will be created at common law courts, including in districts, is also not unclear,” the expert said. “When they speak about the efficiency of a court, they must provide figures and should ask the opinion not only of the magistrates, but also of the institutions involved in trials,” said Valentin Verejan, the president of the Military Court. “During 17 years, the military judges have showed competence, discipline and impartiality. Our institution examines many cases containing internal information or even state secrets. This should also be taken into account,” Verejan said. Aliona Rosca, judge at an economic court, said that it is not right to say that the specialized courts are more corrupt than the common law courts. “In 2008, the Economic Court solved 4,574 cases. 232 of its decisions had been quashed by the higher courts. 2.374 decisions of the over 40,000 cases examined by common law courts were overturned Thus, the figures are comparable,” she said. The participants in the discussion stressed that the liquidation of the specialized courts will not remove corruption and the partiality in the legal system. A better solution is to work with the judges and to dismiss the dishonest ones. It was agreed that the debates on the bill will continue and there will be invited representatives of the Supreme Council of Magistrates and of the Ministry of Justice.