The ruling PAS party today voted down a censure motion against Justice Minister Sergiu Litvinenco tabled by the Bloc of Communists and Socialists.

In their attempt to have Litvinenco removed from office, the Bloc accused him of botching the judiciary reform and of conspiring to appoint docile prosecutors and judges, among other things.

“A group of thieves who want to avoid prison submitted a simple motion through the agency of a group of MPs. Sure, motions are instruments of democracy, but you people here do not respect democracy, you only exploit it, because you hope it will save you from the punishment you deserve for all your crimes. These groups, in fact, take advantage of democratic tools such as censure motions to subvert democracy. Similarly, they exploit the people they stole from, and now they take them out into the street and give them crumbs from the stolen pie”, declared Litvinenco before Parliament.

MP Vlad Batrîncea, a leading member of the Bloc, stated in response that the minister’s speech confirmed the political motivation of the criminal proceedings opened against opposition members, and, moreover, let slip that Litvinenco is intimate with the contents of those cases, which would be illegal. Batrîncea also saw in Litvinenco’s speech a disguised threat made to the opposition. “And if MPs are threatened, how can ordinary citizens trust this justice system?”

PAS lawmaker Olesea Stamate, chair of the Legal Committee, suggested the standards should be raised for tabling a censure motion. “Not any piece of paper should become a censure motion, because we all here, including Minister Litvinenco, wasted half a day listening to nonsense”, declared Stamate.