The fight against corruption in the Republic of Moldova has intensified and more Moldovans started to trust the state institutions, Minster of Justice Vladimir Cebotari stated in the program “Emphasis on today” on TVR Moldova channel, IPN reports.

“In 2017, the fight against corruption reached unprecedented proportions. Something like this hasn’t been witnessed in Moldova’s history. A minister, a deputy minister, judges and many other persons holding responsible posts were arrested. After 2014-2015, which were years of instability, things developed swiftly. Last autumn polls showed 31% of the citizens had confidence in the police. Now polls show the figure rose to 54%,” stated Cebotari.

The minister admitted that a lot is yet to be done in the justice sector, but noted that things developed here as well.

Vladislav Gribincea, director of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, contradicted Vladimir Cebotari. “The justice sector reform was done on paper. There are many problems that are to be solved. For example, the way in which the candidates for judge are voted by the Superior Council of Magistracy. They do not vote according to criteria, but if they like or dislike the candidate. The attitude of judges to people should be changed. The judges are overloaded with cases and just want to perform quickly all the procedures, while polls show the number of those who trust justice decreased dramatically,” he stated.

Cristi Danilet, a member of the Romanian Superior Council of Magistracy, said by phone that for the justice sector reform in the Republic of Moldova to succeed, all the corrupt functionaries should be removed from the law enforcement agencies. Moldova follows the example of Romania when the latter just started to reform its justice sector.