Domnica Manole, the Chisinau Appeals judge who will be prosecuted for obliging the Central Election Commission to organize the constitutional referendum initiated by the Platform “Dignity and Truth”, accuses the Supreme Council of Magistracy of lying to the whole country and to the embassies working in Chisinau. The judge reacted after the Council sent a letter to the U.S. and EU ambassadors whereby it assures that the criminal case started against her by the Prosecutor General’s Office will be fair and transparent, IPN reports.
“The Supreme Council of Magistracy makes an attempt to justify the serious and erroneous decision it made in the absence of any evidence, simply lying to the whole country, including to the Embassy of the U.S. and the Delegation of the European Union,” the judge says in a press statement.
Domnica Manole denies the Council’s assertion that the prosecutor general presented sufficient arguments that made it annul her immunity. “The prosecutor general was obliged to annex the evidence to the letter or at least to invoke the beginning of evidence of the commission of an offense, in particular the proof of malice. The prosecutor general invokes as proofs conclusions mentioned by the Supreme Court of Justice in its April 22, 2016 judgment, treating them as ‘res judicata’ that is to be used in the trial,” stated the judge,
Last week, the Supreme Council of Magistracy accepted the request of acting prosecutor general Eduard Harunjen to annul the immunity of judge Domnica Manole so that this could be investigated for passing an illegal judgment and abusing her authority by interpreting the Constitution.
The Supreme Council of Magistracy’s decision was criticized by representatives of civil society and jurists of Moldova as well as by foreign officials. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, by her spokesperson, commented that recent developments in the area of justice in the Republic of Moldova do nothing to dispel the concern expressed by the Foreign Affairs Council in its February Council conclusions on the lack of independence of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies in the country.
