The reformation of the justice sector through the assessment of the integrity and professionalism of judges will continue regardless of the witnessed resistance, said the head of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities Olesea Stamate. She noted that the General Assembly of Judge held on Friday left a bitter impression to her. For his part, judge Alexei Paniș accused the politicians of being twofaced when they speak about the justice sector reform, saying that the current government wants to subdue the judiciary, IPN reports.
Olesea Stamate noted that the General Assembly of Judge convoked on Friday increased the people’s distrust in the justice system. She expressed her disappointment with the speeches of judges, saying the government anticipated the judges’ intention to delay the reform.
“We intuited that the judges will invoke the necessity of examining all the challenges existing at the Supreme Court of Justice for postponing the election of the members of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The tone and language used at the General Assembly of Judge and the way in which this event was organized does not correspond to what we and the citizens expect of the judges. Evidently, the judges and the prosecutors should be cleaned and they will be cleaned through vetting. We will continue the started reform. The citizens didn’t trust the justice system and now their distrust amplified,” PAS MP Olesea Stamate stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
Judge Alexei Paniș said that by the proposed reform, the government wants to bring the judiciary under its control. He also accused the representatives of the government of applying double standards when they insist on the justice sector reform, but keep in posts members of the SCM whose terms in office expired.
“When we speak about the reform and the independence of justice, I want to believe in the sincerity of politicians who adopted a statement on state capture, but simultaneously support the members of the SCM who worked under state capture and led to state capture and keep these SCM members in their posts after their constitutional terms expire. Such acts generate distrust in the sincerity of the reform. The reform is necessary but the politicians treat this reform as full control over the justice system. The judges want the reform, but they consider this should lead to the improvement of work conditions. Society also wants the reform. The lawyers also want the reform. But some of the persons consider this reform is a possibility of earning money,” stated Alexei Paniș.
Representatives of civil society said the situation in the justice sector is exceptional and radical reform measures can be therefore adopted.
“The judges had the chance to be wiser and to swiftly deal with important issues in the justice system. I refer to their problems, the low salaries, the non-execution of Constitutional Court decisions, low salaries for secretariat employees (..) Particular issues could have been solved as we do not speak about an ordinary situation. We have a war on the border. There is the Russian Federation’s plan for taking over power. The subject of accession to the EU matters a lot as in June it will be decided when and if the accession negotiations on each separate chapter start, while the justice aspects are crucial. That’s why more radical measures need to be taken,” said the director of the Secretariat of the Independent Anticorruption Advisory Committee Ion Guzun.
For Monday, March 20, President Maia Sandu convoked the Supreme Security Council to consider the situation in the justice sector. After the General Assembly of Judges on Friday decided to postpone the election of a new composition of the SCM, Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru said that harsh measures are required and interference cannot be now invoked by the judges for such behavior.
