Venice Commission experts say bill on Moldovan prosecution complies with international standards

Chisinau, 5 February /MOLDPRES/ - The draft law on prosecution complies with the international standards. The Venice Commission’s experts made statements to this effect at a today meeting with Acting Justice Minister Oleg Efrim.

”We noted that, when working out the bill, the Venice Commission’s previous recommendations were taken into consideration. We are impressed by the report that preceded the draft law. There are a lot of positive things, now it is important that the parliament adopts it,” a Hungarian member of the Venice Commission, delegation’s head Andras Zs. Varga said. The delegation members also said they would present a report on the bill on prosecution at a meeting due in March.

Oleg Efrim said the draft law focused on the prosecution’s independence and its withdrawal from the influence of politics. ”We are set to start changes just from the way to appoint the prosecutor general. Under the bill, the latter is to be appointed by the president, at a proposal by the Superior Council of Prosecutors and not by the parliament, as it is at present, and to have a seven-year mandate,” Efrim said.

The Justice Ministry submitted the mentioned bill to the Venice Commission for consideration in past November, after it was adapted to the concept on prosecution reform, passed by the parliament in the summer of 2014.

The delegation of the Venice Commission is on a two-day visit to Moldova. The Justice Ministry informed that the officials would meet the prosecutor general, parliamentary factions, members of the Superior Council of Magistracy, representatives of international organisations and civil society.