The suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo has been released from house arrest and placed under judicial control, which is a form of bail, for a period of 30 days starting today. This was ordered by the Chisinau Court of Appeals, IPN learned from Stoianoglo’s lawyer Vasile Gafton.

However, the defense team is not entirely satisfied, says Gafton: “We cannot be satisfied as there is no legal ground (for any form of constraint) in the first place. I don’t see a case here. The court saw that two months have passed and the prosecution has still been unable to collect any meaningful evidence”.

Stoianoglo was put under house arrest on October 8. Last week, prosecutors announced they were ready to arraign Stoianoglo on the abuse of authority charge. In particular, Stoianoglo is accused of authorizing a retirement allowance of 163,900 lei for a prosecutor subjected to a criminal investigation, which is against the law.

The suspended Prosecutor General also faces charges of passive corruption, perjury and helping a criminal group. Stoianoglo intends to plead not guilty on all counts.