The prosecutor general requested the Constitutional Court to establish the constitutionality of the amendments made by Parliament to the law on the prosecution service. Alexandr Stoianoglo asked the Court to suspend the effect of the law until the case is solved, IPN reports.

“On August 24, 2021, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, as a matter of urgency, ignoring the decisional transparency procedures, without taking into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission and experts in the field and the opinions of the institutions whose activity is affected adopted a series of amendments to the law on the prosecution service after giving them a final reading,” the Prosecutor General’s Office stated in a press release. On September 1, by the decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, the law to amend the law on the prosecution service was published in the Official Gazette.

The PGO disagrees with the way in which the given changes were introduced and adopted. “In the variant formulated by a group of PAS MPs led by Sergiu Litvinenco, these risk having effects that go against the constitutional principles concerning the independence of the prosecution service and separation of powers in the state, undermining the independence of prosecutors in favor of the political factor,” runs the press release. 

The amendments made to the law on the prosecution service introduce a mechanism for assessing the activity of the prosecutor general by constituting an evaluation commission. If the commission describes the prosecutor general’s activity as “unsatisfactory”, the Superior Council of Prosecutors will propose that the President should dismiss this. By a bill, PAS also modified the composition of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, reducing the number of members from 15 to 12 by excluding the prosecutor general, the prosecutor of ATU Gagauzia and the chairperson of the Lawyers Union.