Trial on three seats of Chisinau councilor put off

The lawsuit filed over the withdrawal of three seats of councilor is intentionally postponed, representatives of the Communist faction on the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) said after a new hearing of the Court of Appeals was put off, Info-Prim Neo reports. The faction’s head Boris Golovin said this is the fifth hearing postponed. The reason invoked this time is that the judge who is exclaiming the case Gheorghe Cretu is taking part in a seminar. “I want to tell you that Mister Cretu is a co-interested person because his wife Marina Cretu works at the Chisinau City Hall’s Law Division, and there is a conflict of interests,” said the councilor. He also said that the Communist faction will demand appointing another judge. Victor Gurau, a substitute candidate on the PCRM’s list, said that he and another two substitute candidates signed an application for being included as sides in the trial as their rights are violated. “Next week, we will perform all the formalities so as to file an application over the violation of human rights to the ECHR as the people voted, the court passed judgment and the Municipal Council adopted a decision on September 29 to give us the vacated seats, but things continue to be delayed,” he stated. On September 29, the Communist councilors called a meeting of the CMC in the absence of the AEI councilors and the Council’s secretariat and decided to withdraw the seats of councilor on the basis of the applications of three members of the Communist faction and to give them to the next substitute candidates on the PCRM’s list. The mayor said then that the meeting was illegal as an acting secretary of the CMC is elected by 26 votes, while Igor Dodon and Zinaida Greceanyi cannot vote because they renounced their seats. In October, the City Hall appealed the decision of the Communist councilors to court. The case is now tried by the Court of Appeals. The next hearing will take place on January 19.