On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Moldova’s Independence, IPN News Agency decided to depict the portrait of the current Republic of Moldova. For the purpose, we challenged a number of people, including state officials, politicians, businessmen, civil rights activists and persons without posts and titles, but who have what to say. The generic picture is entitled “Thoughts about and for Moldova”.
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Victor Micu, chairman of the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM): Since proclaiming its Independence, Moldova progressed considerably in all fields and strengthened all the three powers in the state. Currently, a lot of effort is put into accomplishing all the goals targeted by the reforms that are underway, but many of them are yet to be implemented within the proposed time frame or to their fullest extent.
The CSM chairman thinks that, during its 25 years of Independence, Moldova has walked a difficult path of becoming a sovereign and independent country, free to choose its present and future according to its moral and democratic values. The market economy of local commodities is taking an increasingly civilized, original and in-demand shape.
As concerns the judiciary, Victor Micu is of the opinion that many positive changes have taken place – the quality of the judicial act has improved, the conditions necessary to perform the judicial act in a timely manner and in accordance with the law are in place, most of the national legislation has been adapted to the European acquis. And there are other accomplishments as well.
When he came into office, Micu set several goals, but admits that sometimes it takes more than one person’s initiative to achieve them. “To a certain extent, I managed to accomplish what I had set out to do, although maybe not within the desired deadline or at the level I hoped. But I must say that the quality of the judicial act has improved considerably over the last years. A proof of this is the lower number of court rulings annulled by higher courts and the lower number of cases lost by Moldova at the European Court of Human Rights”, said the CSM head.
According to him, the transparency of the judiciary has increased thanks to people’s access to judges’ decisions. The judicial act is now performed with more objectivity and within the boundaries of the law. “This is not seen anymore as a virtue, but as a necessity by all the judges. The act of justice has gained society’s trust thanks to its transparency and quality. I admit there is still a lot of work to do, but we putting all our efforts into achieving the goals we set”, assured Micu.
The official is adamant that the judiciary is independent and all the court rulings are in accordance with the existing legislation. CSM, within the limits of its prerogatives, is taking measures to prevent any abuse on the part of judges.
Among the successfully implemented reforms, Victor Micu listed the audio recording of court hearings and the random distribution of cases through the Integrated File Management System, which increased the transparency of the judiciary and excluded the human factor from the distribution of files. Additionally, the relationship between the judicial system and the mass media has improved thanks to the Guide of good practices between the judiciary and the mass media.
Beginning in 2017, all Moldovan courts will be specialized in one of the following categories: criminal, civil and administrative. The CSM chairman also noted that the Law regarding the selection, evaluation and career of judges was adopted, thus ensuring that judges are now selected according to more objective criteria.
Victor Micu admits that the judicial reform still has some unachieved goals, but assured that a lot of work is put into correcting this. “I must stress that the large majority of judges are doing their job with fairness. There are however some problems regarding the quality of the judicial act, like the deadlines for examining cases, because of the high number of files. For example, in 2015, our 430 judges have examined 250,000 files. I think this is an impressive number”, explained Micu.
The CSM chairman says people must fully realize the importance and imminence of reforms, which, if done smartly and in good faith, can change our lives for the better and help us advance on the path of success and justice. “Despite the difficult problems Moldova is facing, our country is developing. We all wish to continue on the road of progress and well-being, but in order to achieve this, I can highlight two key elements we need: political will and the mobilization of all our citizens”, he concluded.
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Victor Micu started his legal career in 1994 as an investigator, then worked as a senior adviser at the Supreme Justice Court. In 1998, he became a judge at the Rascani District Court in Chisinau and was later promoted to vice-president and then president of the same court. After his mandate expired, he served as acting president of the institution. Victor Micu also engaged in academic work as a lecturer at the Law Department of the Free International University of Moldova. At the General Assembly of Judges in January 2014, he was elected to the Superior Council of Magistrates and, in June of the same year, he became chairman of the Council.
Elena Nistor, IPN
The articles of the series “Thoughts about and for Moldova” started to be published on July 18. Among the protagonists are: Dumitru Alaiba, Iurie Ciocan, Ana-Maria Ţulea, Ion Manole,Olga Gagauz, Stella Ciobanu, Iurie Leancă, Victor Parlicov, Doru Curoşu, Igor Meriacre, Valeria Şeican, Ciprian Raeţchi, Andrei Năstase, Ghenadie Gâlcă, Arcadie Barbăroşie,Valeriu Matei, Eugen Doga, Dumitru Postovan, Petru Macovei, Tatiana Negruş, Maia Sandu, Viorel Soltan, Valentin Guţan, Gheorghe Erizanu, Mariana Onceanu-Hadârcă, Viorel Cibotaru, Victor Micu, Sergiu Prodan, Igor Dodon, Aureliu Batrînac, Alexandru Pleşca, Dionis Cenuşa, Kalman Mizsei, Petru Bodarev, Marian Lupu, IUlia Iabanji, Pavel Filip, Andrian Candu.
