The President’s Office will issue the decree to discharge the Prosecutor General by the end of this week as soon as all legal conditions are met, announced the presidential aide Maxim Lebedinschi.

“Based on the consultations among the President, the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the parliamentary majority, the Moldovan Parliament yesterday passed a motion finding procedural violations in the process of selecting the Prosecutor General, with the recommendation for the President to decree the termination of the Prosecutor General’s tenure”, Lebedinschi posted to Facebook.

Specifically, Parliament yesterday found that Eduard Harunjen had been ineligible to become Prosecutor General. According to the motion, upon his nomination Harunjen was a member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, whereas the selection rules explicitly prohibited any current SCP member from being nominated.

The motion passed by the vote of 56 MPs. The Democratic group condemned the move as illegal and as “an assault against the judiciary”, before walking out in protest.

Per Article 125 of the Constitution, the Prosecutor General may be dismissed by presidential decree on the proposal of the Superior Council of Prosecutors.

Eduard Harunjen was appointed PG on 8 December 2016 by the outgoing President Nicolae Timofti, much to the dismay of the then president-elect Igor Dodon.