Prosecution demands 19 years of imprisonment for former Moldovan PM

Chisinau, 22 June /MOLDPRES/ - The prosecution in the file of the former prime minister, Vlad Filat, charged with passive corruption and influence peddling, today demanded that court sentences the ex-PM to 19 years of imprisonment, fining with 3,000 conventional units (60,000 lei), depriving him of the right to hold public offices during five years and confiscation of the wealth or its equivalent value, prosecutor Adriana Betisor said after the court session today. 
“Judicial debates took place at the today’s court session, within which each of the sides submitted the needed requests. Vlad Filat made no statements; yet, on 27 June, when the next court session is planned, the defendant will have right to the last word,” Betisor noted.  
For his part, the lawyer of the former PM, Igor Popa, said the prosecutors’ demand was exaggerated, and this trial “is based only on suppositions and not convincing evidence.”   
“The confiscation of the wealth is a shame for the entire country. This is a file without evidence, which violates the fundamental rights. The common sense should not allow the prosecutor coming to court and demand 19 years, this is inhumanly. This file has many infringements. We drew the court’s attention to each count and each mistake made by the prosecutor. Ninety per cent of the evidence is collected contrary to the legislation, and prosecutors relied only on suppositions,” Popa said.
According to the press service of the Penitentiary Institutions Department, Vlad Filat on 21 June gave up the hunger strike on health grounds. Physicians of the Penitentiary No 13 said that Filat’s health condition was satisfactory. Vlad Filat started a hunger strike 20 days ago and fainted away because of the worsening of his health condition during a court session on 21 June.
Former Prime Minister Vlad Filat was detained on 15 October 2015 based on businessman Ilan Shor’s self-denouncement, according to which he had bribed the former prime minister by giving him 250 million dollars. The accusations were denied by Vlad Filat. He has been under preventive arrest for almost eight months, facing charges of influence peddling and passive corruption in the bank scam at the former Savings Bank.
(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor A. Raileanu)