The Prime Minister Maia Sandu has requested the resignation of the board of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), because “it does not provide the judicial system of Moldova with a sufficient number of well-trained and incorruptible specialists.” According to the Prime Minister, NIJ has failed to achieve its goals given the “catastrophic situation in the justice system.”
“Both initial training and continuous training are below any standards,” Sandu told a press briefing.
Maia Sandu mentioned that, over time, the NIJ has hired persons with integrity problems. There is evidence of bribery practices within the institution, both on admission and upon graduation. “How can we have a fair justice when the Institute itself teaches future prosecutors and judges that corruption is something normal,” Maia Sandu asked rhetorically?
The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance to urgently identify the legal solutions to increase by two or even three times the number of persons who will be trained for the professions of judges and prosecutors, right from this year. And if there is no possibility of supplementing this number without amending the law, Maia Sandu asks the Ministry of Justice to urgently prepare the changes to the legal framework.
For the academic period of October 2019-April 2021, 20 seats for judges and 20 for prosecutors were planned, that is an insufficient number, says Maia Sandu, as the system has to be completely replaced. “Neither the prosecutor's office nor the judicial system has a critical mass of persons willing to clean up the system, so new judges and prosecutors are needed to change the system to its very foundations,” said Maia Sandu.
