The number of members on the Superior Council of Prosecutors has been reduced from 15 to 12, as the Prosecutor General, the Chief Prosecutor of the Gagauz autonomy and the president of the Bar Association are removed. A bill to this effect has passed its final reading in Parliament today, IPN reports.
The sponsors of the bill said the Prosecutor General needed to be removed in order to reduce his influence on the Council and on the rest of the SCP prosecutor-members.
“Since the SCP, as a self-governing body of prosecutors and a guarantor of prosecutors’ independence and impartiality, must ensure normal operation of the prosecution system, it must also verify the activity of the prosecutor general and, if necessary, initiate disciplinary proceedings and propose his removal from office if necessary. Given that the Prosecutor General is appointed for a term of 7 years and SCP members are appointed for a term of 4 years, there is a risk that the Prosecutor General may exert influence over SCP members both during and after their terms are over”, argue the bill’s authors.
As concerns the removal of Gagauzia’s chief prosecutor, the authors say this eliminates inequality and inequity in relation to other chief prosecutors in the provinces. As for the president of the Bar Association, the authors believe there are no objective reasons for such a member to be on the Council in the first place.
Parliament also adopted provisions that change the procedure of appointing and electing members on the Superior Council of Magistracy. The General Assembly of Judges will elect six judges who are members of the SCM, four from first-tier courts, one from an appellate court and another one from the Supreme Court of Justice. The SCM will announce the election at least two months in advance. Candidates for these positions will enter the election at least four weeks before the General Assembly of Judges.
The bill reintroduces the requirement for candidates for the position of judge-members to have at least three years’ experience on the Bench and no disciplinary sanction in the last three years.
PAS lawmaker Sergiu Litvinenco submitted an amendment that provides that three SCM members from among tenured law professors shall be appointed by a simple majority in Parliament, at the proposal of the Legal Commission. The number of tenured teachers has thus been increased from two to three, to ensure that there are 12 members on the SCM.
The bill also introduces provisions related to the General Assembly of Judges. Participation will now be possible by teleconference and in extraordinary cases, such as a pandemic, electronic voting can be used. The latter option will need further regulation by the General Assembly of Judges to become a possibility.
