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Veronica Dragalin: Justice lasts because we must respect everyone’s rights


https://www.ipn.md/index.php/en/veronica-dragalin-justice-lasts-because-we-must-respect-everyones-7967_1095099.html

Justice lasts as the rights of all the citizens must be respected in the process of collecting evidence, the chief of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin said when she was asked when the high-profile cases in Moldova will have an end result. The chief anticorruption prosecutor noted she realizes that society wants to see those who robbed the state punished, but confidence in justice is built not by passing judgments in a row, but by respecting all the legal procedures, IPN reports.

According to Veronica Dragalin, for society to regain confidence in the prosecution service, the prosecutors must follow all the stages of evidence accumulation and this process in the case of high-profile cases is very long.

“We all have very strong feelings when it goes to the billion stolen from the banks of Moldova and also in the case of the Laundromat that went through Moldova’s courts and seriously affected our reputation in Europe and all over the world. We all want these schemes to be dissolved, those to blame to be held accountable and the money to be recovered. I think we will not achieve the goal if we say that only this is a positive result and we will this way be able to trust the justice system. It’s clear that reaching an end result in the high-profile cases is a priority for us too, but it is very important to also look at this long road on which intermediary results are also achieved and these show that we follow the correct path,” Veronica Dragalin stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.

Asked about the evolution of the case concerning the financing of the Shor Party, the chief anticorruption prosecutor said that when all the necessary proofs are accumulated, the case will be sent to court and society will then have access to information.

“If we have convictions in a row overnight, for me this would mean that we do not live in a state with the rule of law. So, justice lasts as we need to respect the rights. I realize that the citizens have emotions and want to see results and people in jail and the money to be confiscated. I understand why the citizens want this, but we must respect all the laws. We cannot simply take people from their homes and imprison them. We must conduct the evidence collection process correctly and responsibly and we do this now,” stated Veronica Dragalin

According to the chief anticorruption prosecutor, of all the cases sent to court in 2022, judgments were passed in 75%, while in 25% of the cases the persons were acquitted.