The Penal Board of the Chisinau Court of Appeals rejected as groundless the prosecutors’ request to impose a harsher punishment on the Buiucani District Court judge who was accused of examining a case without being physically present at the hearing. The judge was only fined 8,000 lei and was banned from holding posts in the judicial system and the law enforcement bodies for a period of five years, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the prosecutors established that the judge signed the proceedings of the hearing that didn’t de facto take place. At that moment, the judge was at the Supreme Council of Magistrates. The document contains untruthful data about the presence of the participants in the hearing, including of the judge and the defendant, the hour when the hearing started and the statements of the parties.

On July 12, 2013, the Buiucani District Court found the judge guilty of pronouncing an illegal judgment, acquitting him on the count of abuse of power.

The Prosecutor General’s Office will yet decide whether to appeal this decision to a higher court.