The government is extending the list of eligibility criteria for applying for the post of prosecutor general. Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco said the PAS bill to amend the law on the prosecution service will enable the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who are abroad to apply for the posts of prosecutor general and of chief prosecutors of the specialized prosecutor’s offices. Foreign experts will take part in the candidate selection process so as to exclude any suspicion of lack of integrity or of political bias with regard to the candidates, IPN reports.
The minister noted the bill to amend the law on the prosecution service that was announced yesterday by the head of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities Olesea Stamate was agreed with the country’s foreign partners. It is designed to enable expats to apply for the post of prosecutor general.
“The candidates will be eligible if they have ten years’ experience, five of which as prosecutor, judge or lawyer in the country and abroad. This will enable the Moldovans with experience in the prosecution service, the bar or the legal system in the Republic of Moldova and also in another state to apply. The future prosecutor general must be independent, courageous and correct. This should apply the law no matter who breaks it,” Sergiu Litvinenco stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The minister said the process of selecting the future prosecutor general will be meticulous. Even if a selection commission is created to organize the contest, it is the Superior Council of Prosecutors that will take a final decision about the final candidate for prosecutor general.
“The commission will also include foreign experts and it will choose a potential candidate. This will transmit the files of candidates with the gained score in descending order to the Superior Council of Prosecutors, which will propose the candidate for prosecutor general to the President of the Republic of Moldova or the candidates for the specialized prosecutor’s offices to the prosecutor general for confirmation,” stated Litvinenco.
In May 2020, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the procedure by which Alexandr Stoianoglo was named chief of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The candidate selection contest was then staged by a commissions constituted y the Ministry of Justice. The Court held that by creating a selection commission, the Superior Council of Prosecutors’ constitutional role of choosing candidates for prosecutor general was encroached upon.
