The lawyers and prosecutors in the case of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat argued for their appeals at the Chisinau Appeals Court. The defense tried to prove that the sentence given to the ex-Premier by the ordinary court of law is groundless, while the prosecutors demanded that the punishment should be made harsher, IPN reports.
Lawyer Igor Popa said he spoke about the violations committed in the trial before the judges, including the fact that the indictment principle wasn’t respected and, respectively, the punishment principle in this case was also violated. “I insisted that the actions of Vlad Filat do not represent an offense and there is no element confirming his blame,” he stated.
Igor Popa noted he informed the judges that the prosecutor made particular suppositions in the trial and the Buiucani court practically transposed those suppositions to the sentence. “I also warned that we weren’t offered the right to bring witnesses to the Buiucani Court in the same conditions as the prosecutor did. Therefore, our right to a fair trial was violated,” stated the lawyer.
Prosecutor Adriana Betisor didn’t make statements for the press. According to the lawyer, in the hearing she demanded a harsher punishment for Vlad Filat.
In the October 22 hearing, there will be questioned a number of witnesses, including businessman Ilan Shor.
Vlad Filat was sentenced to nine years in jail and fined 60,000 lei. He pleads not guilty.
