None of the five witnesses for the defense appeared at the May 17 hearing in the case of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat. Lawyer Igor Popa presumes the witnesses didn’t show up because they were intimidated. State prosecutor Adriana Betisor denied having intimidated any of the witnesses and said that no evidence showing that the lawyers cited the given witnesses was presented, IPN reports.
Igor Popa told the press that the absence of the witnesses represents lack of respect towards the court of law. He does not rule out the possibility that these were intimidated. “The witnesses decided to ignore these official invitations and not to accept the citation issued by the judge. I submitted today an application and asked that the witnesses should be brought by force. The judges are to take a decision,” stated the lawyer.
Adriana Betisor said there weren’t presented proofs to show that the five witnesses were cited by the lawyers or telephone bills to confirm that the defense contacted these by phone. The request to bring the witnesses to court by force is weird as these persons are to give testimony in favor of the accused.
The next hearing in the case of Vlad Filat was set for May 18.
Vlad Filat was deprived of parliamentary immunity and arrested on October 15, 2015. The ex-Premier is accused of influence peddling and passive corruption and faces 7 to 15 years behind bars and ban on holding public posts. He pleads not guilty.
