The Constitutional Court of Moldova rejected the petition of the Prosecutor General to suspend the recently adopted parliamentary amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office.
The Interim Chairperson of the Constitutional Court, Liuba Sova, adopted this decision while noting that the contested provisions relate, in particular, to the composition of the Supreme Council of Prosecutors, the introduction of a mechanism for assessing the activities of the Prosecutor General and the possibility of dismissal in case of an unsatisfactory assessment. The contested provisions also changed some aspects concerning the disciplinary liability of the Prosecutor General and the termination of the powers of the Vice-Prosecutor General. The Interim Chairperson of the Constitutional Court said that the author of the petition noted the presence of risks that may affect some constitutional principles, but in fact, the petition to suspend the operation of the law lacks sufficient justification for the possible inevitable negative consequences for the independence of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Prosecutor General and the Supreme Council of Prosecutors. In this regard, the Acting Chairperson of the Constitutional Court concluded that there are no grounds for suspending the operation of the contested legal norms. Thus, the appeal filed by the Prosecutor General was rejected. Earlier, Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo applied to the Constitutional Court to check the constitutionality of the amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office made by the parliament and asked to suspend them, pointing out serious deviations in the process of their development, promotion and adoption by the parliamentary majority. The Prosecutor General noted that on August 24, the Moldovan Parliament urgently, ignoring the procedures for transparency in decision-making, without taking into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission, as well as experts in this field and interested departments, adopted in the final reading a number of amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office. The Prosecutor General's Office does not agree with how the amendments were promoted and adopted in the formulations prepared by a group of PAS MPs led by Sergiu Litvinenco, noting that they can entail consequences that will seriously undermine the constitutional principles of the independence of the Prosecutor's Office and the separation of powers in the state, jeopardize the independence of the Prosecutor's Office in favor of the political factor. // 07.09.2021 - InfoMarket
