Prosecutor Victoria Furtună said that she had to resign from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office because of slippages in the prosecution service of the Republic of Moldova. According to her, the justice system was plunged into total chaos that was generated not from within it, as some would like to believe, but by external factors. Furtună stressed that politicians want to subjugate the justice system for personal or party interests.
In a press conference hosted by IPN, Victoria Furtună said that the ruling party invokes reforms and uses such terms as “vetting” and “prevetting” to camouflage the true intention to subjugate the judiciary and the prosecution service. “The prosecution service is an independent, autonomous public service and the lawmaker expressly provided that it is independent from the legislative and executive power won by election. In order to bring the judiciary and the prosecution service under control, they used the justice sector reform apparently legally,” stated Victoria Furtună.
She noted that she was intimidated as she handled a criminal case against public figures from state institutions, who introduced false information into official documents and used for these purposes public institutions, such as the Security and Intelligence Service, the National Anticorruption Center. The day after she communicated about these slippages and announced that she decided to resign, she was informed that a criminal case had been filed against her on disclosure of investigation data. Her computer was taken away and she was issued with a summons to appear at the Prosecutor’s Office to be classed as a suspect.
“I don’t see any logic in everything that is written in the ordinance to start the criminal case. I don’t see in what way I disclosed investigation data. When this ordinance was made public, I was abroad. What was the point of seizing the equipment from my office? It was the same procedure I had gone through for many years – intimidation of me and my colleagues – so that if someone tries to reveal abuses or violations of legislation, they will be subject to criminal punishments,” said Victoria Furtună.
She urged the prosecutors who believe that their rights have been violated or who noticed violations in procedures and abuses on the part of the authorities to speak out so that in the future they are not accused by the new governments of not informing about the identified deviations. “The government, when it took over, said: if you detect particular violations of the legislation, vociferate them. And they considered this right. An abuse was committed and I made it public so that everyone knows their rights and can request answers to all their questions from the authorities,” noted Victoria Furtună.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider themselves targeted in the news made from the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
