Venice Commission in favor of giving partial immunity to judges

The judges must benefit from functional, but limited immunity, the Venice Commission said when answering an inquiry of the Constitutional Court of Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Constitutional Court asked the Venice Commission to state its opinion after it was requested to pronounce on the constitutionality of legislative amendments that deprive the judges who are suspected of corruption and traffic of influence of immunity. The Venice Commission considers that the judges must have immunity only in the case of legal acts done while fulfilling their duties. Such cases as passive corruption, influence peddling, bribery and other similar acts can be considered as acts performed while fulfilling one’s duties. The Commission also said that the deprivation of judges of immunity can lead to certain risks such as suing based on false statements of private individuals. But the independence of justice does not depend on the wide immunity of judges, while judges must answer for any offense they commit. According to the Venice Commission, only the Constitutional Court of Moldova can decide on the constitutionality of related legislative amendments. The application by which the Court is asked to pronounce on the constitutionality of legislative amendments that deprive the judges who are suspected of corruption and traffic of influence of immunity was submitted by the Supreme Court of Justice.