Venice Commission approves opinion on project on reform of Supreme Court of Justice, Prosecutor's Office in Moldova

Chisinau, 12 October /MOLDPRES/ – The Venice Commission (CV) approved, on Friday, 11 October, the interim opinion on the draft law on the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and Prosecutor's Office. The announcement was made by the Minister of Justice, Olesea Stamate.

"The recommendations made are useful for improving the project, which we shall work on in upcoming weeks. We have agreed that we shall present a final project and the Commission will present itself with a final opinion”, stated Stamate in a post on her official social network page.

The Minister of Justice has affirmed that the most important recommendations from CV are in particular about ensuring an effective appeal in a court and ensuring independence and integrity of members of extraordinary evaluation committee. Similarly, the Commission also recommended that judges (as well as prosecutors) which do not pass the integrity assessment, should not be kept in the system – by transfer to a lower court, but subject to disciplinary measures, and resigned, if needed.

According to minister, the Commission has expressed itself firmly on the initiative to dismiss the members of CSM, invoking that their mandate must be respected and that a revocation cannot take place based on the loss of confidence of judges. Another mention of CV concerns examining the opportunity of evaluating the CSM's members at the beginning of evaluation exercise.

In upcoming few weeks, the draft law on the reform of the CSJ and Prosecutor's Office will be adjusted and ready for further adoption.