VIDEO // President calls on prosecutors and judges to show more courage in cases of treason

There is a lack of courage in the judiciary when it comes to sanctioning high treason, according to President Maia Sandu, who approached the risks of treason within state institutions, the reaction of the authorities, and the role of law enforcement bodies in punishing such cases.

“I would not vouch for all employees of the Intelligence and Security Service, just as I would not vouch for employees of other institutions. And these risks are not present only in the Republic of Moldova. We see that these risks also exist in other states, with consolidated democracies where the Russian Federation has had less access to institutions because physical distance helps. These risks exist everywhere. We must remain vigilant, but we cannot now discredit an entire institution just because an employee who held a position of responsibility many years ago ended up selling his country,” the president explained.

The head of state also emphasized the importance of protecting those involved in sensitive situations.

“I do not regret the decision to exchange this man (Alexandru Balan) for two loyal citizens of the Republic of Moldova. It is very important that these people are safe and at home. The institutions have obviously become stronger in recent years, but it is hard for me to believe that they have been completely cleansed of all potentially traitorous elements of the Republic of Moldova,” Maia Sandu stressed.

Referring to the ongoing investigations, the president stated: “First of all, in this case, because there are questions as to why these two people were detained, the Prosecutor’s Office must provide answers. So there is an investigation according to the law and I assume that, at some point, especially now that these two officers are at home and can provide information to the prosecutors, we will be able to find out more when things become clear.”

In the same context, the head of state spoke about the need to change the attitude of the responsible institutions.

“Beyond the reforms we are implementing in the institutions, including in the Intelligence and Security Service, I believe that law enforcement bodies must change their attitude, because the sanctioning of high treason is in the law and has been there for a long time, but we have not seen too many cases brought to a successful conclusion. We have seen very few investigations for high treason,” Maia Sandu noted.

The president explicitly pointed out an attitude problem within the system: “There is somehow a lack of courage, if I can put it that way, on the part of law enforcement bodies, and here I am addressing both the Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary, to sanction such cases.”

At the same time, Sandu referred to the context in which certain practices were formed.

“We can assume why we ended up in this situation, because over time we have had in positions of responsibility people who were involved in high treason and who, in turn, created certain expectations among the employees of these institutions that treason should be overlooked,” the head of state said.

Regarding the factors that can influence the integrity of officials, the head of state stated: “Because salaries are not very high, I don’t know exactly how much security officers, prosecutors and people in the justice system earn, but obviously when you have a not very high salary, your courage to get involved needs to be rewarded in other ways. And as far as I know, and as we all remember, the money used to come in other ways. Clearly, the risk that someone will take money to betray the country is much higher when you don’t have enough to eat.”

On the other hand, the president underlined that salary levels cannot justify treason.

“We must say that within the Intelligence and Security Service there have always been, regardless of who was in charge of the country, people who were patriots and, regardless of the salaries they had, very small or perhaps a bit higher, they served their country and did their job very well. We can demonstrate and show cases when, even with high salaries, people sell their country because, of course, Russia has much more money than the Republic of Moldova and can always offer more, and we have seen this in the latest elections, in terms of how much money was allocated and how many people chose to sell their country,” Maia Sandu emphasized.

The president reiterated the need to enforce the law.

“Salaries are an important issue and we are trying to improve the situation, but they are not a justification for someone to make money by selling their country. High treason is punished and punished severely, as the law stipulates, and I am calling for more courage from prosecutors and judges in cases of treason,” the head of state said.