Supreme Council of Magistracy asked to refrain from actions that can affect freedom of expression

29.12.2015 10:34
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3 minute(s)

A number of civil society organizations call on the Supreme Council of Magistracy (SCM) and other institutions from the judicial system to refrain from actions that can affect the freedom of expression. The call was made after the SCM condemned an opinion stated by Arcadie Barbarosie, the executive director of the Institute for Public Policy. In an article, this criticized the Appeals Court’s decision by which ex-minister of finance Veaceslav Negruta was obliged to execute a decision for which the same court later convicted him, IPN reports, quoting a statement issued by civil society.

In the article, Arcadie Barbarosie says that ‘one should be schizophrenic to do something like this. But they do it, if they know what they have to do. After the Appeals Court obliged him to pay €400,000 to Sandulache, it later convicted him of doing this.”

In a press release, the SCM criticizes Arcadie Barbarosie’s comment. According to the Council, the adjective ‘schizophrenic’ denigrates and seriously damages the image of the judicial system. By this comment, the admissible levels of the freedom of expression were exceeded and the independence of the judicial system was significantly affected. The Council also asked the Press Council to examine the given article to see if it meets the norms of the Deontological Code.

The signatory organizations consider the SCM’s reaction in this case is regrettable. They say that Arcadie Barbarosie’s statements do not exceed the limits of the freedom of expression, while the request for the Press Council to determine if the article does not violate the Deontological Code is an attempt to limit the freedom to discuss issues of public interest.

Given the aforementioned, the signatories call on the SCM to refrain from actions that can affect the freedom of expression. The Press Council is asked to examine the SCM’s request and issue a decision by which to define the limits of the freedom of expression when it is about criticism leveled at judges.

The statement was signed by the Association for Participatory Democracy, the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, the Foreign Policy Association, the Association “Promo-LEX”, the Journalistic Investigations Center, the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, and Transparency International Moldova.