Moldovan lawyers complain of being treated as rivals of top leadership

Moldovan lawyers complain of being treated as rivals of the top leadership. The president of the Moldovan Lawyers Bar Association, Gheorghe Amihalachioae, told a news conference on Tuesday, April 22, that the main reason of this attitude was the fact that namely due to lawyers, Moldova had been condemned in over 100 cases by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Info-Prim Neo reports. The lawyer finds as completely groundless this attitude taking into account that the attorneyship is not a political institution, but one representing citizens in administrative and legal agencies and participating in performing justice. The law on attorneyship clearly provides that the lawyers shall not be treated as their clients, the barrister reminds. At the same time, the lawyers accuse they arte discriminated compared with other actors in carrying out justice. “Although the legislation provides the equality in rights of the participants in a trial, all the state machinery works for the accusation,” says Amihalachioae. The lawyers shall ask prosecutors the expertise of evidence and hearing of witnesses, yet the lawyers’ requests are often rejected “as obviously groundless”, while the prosecutors’ requests are accepted. Unlike lawyers, the prosecutors are spared from paying the state tax on making appeals. The lawyers are also concerned with the spreading of the phenomenon of the so-called “clandestine attorneyship” which, in their opinion, is allowed by the faulty legislation. Although the recent changes in the Law on attorneyship envisage that the lawyer can participate in the trial only on the basis of a contract concluded with the client and on the mandate issued by the Bar Association, the Civil Procedures Codes allows clients’ representatives to participate in trials on the basis of proxies. Thus frequent are the cases when different persons presenting themselves as lawyers conclude verbal or written contracts with clients, take huge sums of money, and disappear or represent interests in an unprofessional manner. The attorneyship on the proxy basis allows them not to pay taxes, they not controlled by Ethics and Discipline Board of the Bar. The Bar Association intends to launch an appeal to the Moldovan top leadership to support attorneyship. They will also send notifications to change the laws in force. They vow to call on the Council of Europe for assistance. They keep the right to declare sit-in strike. However, Amihalachioae says, the lawyers link their hopes to the parliamentary elections of 2009. “If others are in power, better laws will be passed. And the attitude towards attorneyship will be another,” says the president of the Lawyers Bar. He maintains the lawyers will take an active part in the elections, since most of the lawyers in districts are members of political parties. According to Moldovan legislation, the lawyers are the only category of jurists allowed to get involved into politics.