The MP of the Action and Solidarity Party group, ACUM bloc, Sergiu Litvinenco, says that if today the General Assembly of Judges takes place and if the current composition of the Superior Council of Magistracy is revoked, it also carries certain risks. According to him, in this case, the possibility of withdrawing the immunity of some judges could be blocked, if this is requested by the interim Prosecutor General. In addition, the external evaluation of judges, as proposed by the Ministry of Justice, may no longer be possible, IPN reports.
Sergiu Litvinenco says that the interim prosecutor general went to the CSM and demanded the lifting of the immunity of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice, Ion Druță, who, rendered the final judgement to maintain the annulment of the local elections in Chisinau. "There is a group of judges who do not want the CSM to give its consent, in the event that the Prosecutor General still makes such requests. This is the greatest risk of a possible termination from their positions of the current members of the CSM - the Council will be blocked if the Prosecutor General wants to lift the immunity and initiate criminal prosecution against a judge, he has no one to address,” said the MP on the "In depth" show, Pro TV Chisinau.
In addition, there is a problem with what the Ministry of Justice initiated - it has drafted a law on the external evaluation of judges, and the CSM has its distinct point of view on it. "And again, in the event that the activity of the SCM is blocked, then there is a risk that this law could not be implemented as it has been perceived."
MP Igor Munteanu argues that this unity of judges, that are trying to endanger the change that is foreshadowed on the horizon, wants to counteract any kind of initiative to put things in order in the judicial system. "It’s a kind of justice against justice. The reaction of those judges who have been involved in some cases very much detested by the population and criticized everywhere shows very clearly that in the judiciary there is a strong reactionary trend against any attempts to change the rules of the game,” says the parliamentarian.
At the meeting on September 19, the CSM postponed the examination of the request of a group of judges regarding the convening of the General Assembly of Judges. The members of the Council ordered a judicial inspection to verify under what conditions the signatures were collected from the magistrates, more precisely, if they knew for what they were signing. And on Tuesday, September 24, the request to convene the Assembly was rejected. Meanwhile, on September 20, the Chisinau Court of Appeal ordered the CSM to convene the General Assembly of Judges, at the initiative of at least 50 judges, after a group of incumbent judges took legal action. Following this decision, the SCM stated that it will file an appeal, in which it will also request the suspension of the decision’s execution. According to some information, the Assembly is to be held today, and, according to other information, the CSM has contested the decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice with the request to dismiss the action.
