Supreme Council of Magistrates waits for political order to elect Supreme Court of Justice president, jurist

The Supreme Council of Magistrates (SCM) waits for a political decision in order to start electing the president of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), considers the head of the Center of Public Authorities Monitoring and Initiatives. Ion Dron believes the politicians intentionally postpone the procedure so as to make changes to the legislation, Info-Prim Neo reports. “In our opinion, the Supreme Council of Magistrates is the prisoner of group and party interests,” Ion Dron told a news conference. The jurist said that the SCM repeatedly tried to elect the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, but found embarrassing reasons to put off the issue, invoking technical problems, the absence of quorum and other motives. According to Ion Dron, the SCM needs courage and will to call a special meeting where to elect the president of the SCJ. “Until they do not do it, we have reasons to believe that they wait for the politicians to tell them when to convene the meeting,” said the head of the NGO. The Center of Public Authorities Monitoring and Initiatives said they postpone electing the SCJ president because they want to amend the legislation, namely the Law on the Supreme Court of Justice. We presume the amendments would say that only a person working at the Supreme Court of Justice can become its president,” said Ion Dron. In another development, he said the SCM should sign the Pact for Justice (an initiative put forward by Ion Dron not long ago) so as to get rid of the pressure exerted by the political class. The Pact will provide that the politicians cannot become involved in the procedure for selecting, naming or dismissing judges. The Supreme Council of Magistrates put off the election of the president of the SCJ for several times. Two candidates are contending for the presidency of the Supreme Court of Justice – current president Ion Muruianu, and Mihai Poalelungi, Moldova’s judge at the European Court of Human Rights. The agenda of the December 13 meeting of the SCM does not include the election of the president of the Supreme Court of Justice.