Moldovan government approves law on Prosecution

Chisinau, 8 May /MOLDPRES/ - The new law on Prosecution was discussed at the government’s meeting today, at the insistence of Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici, after two years of discussions on the reform of the Prosecution. The Prosecution reform is one of the anti-corruption measures urgently initiated by the prime minister, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

The new law provides for clearly establishing the role of the Prosecution in the legal system, namely remove the political component, ensuring the institution's independence, changing the way the Prosecutor General is appointed. According to the draft, the prosecutor general will be elected by the Superior Council of Prosecutors and appointed by the president of Moldova, and not by the parliament speaker, as it is at present.

Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici proposed that interviews for the selection of candidates for the prosecutor office be public. "The competitions and interviews for the selection of Prosecutors should be submitted online, so that everyone can see how they were carried out,” said the prime minister.

According to the document, the Superior Council of Prosecutors shall be a self-administration body of the Prosecution. It will have a budget separate from the Prosecution, which will guarantee its independence. Furthermore, the Superior Council of Prosecutors will have three colleges: on evaluation, discipline and ethics, selection and career.

At the same time, a new structure in the prosecution system will be set up: the Inspection Department, which will collect information about its prosecutors or deviations they have committed and will be subordinated to the Prosecutor General. The structure of the Prosecution will also be modified. Thus, there will be: Prosecutor General Office, two specialised prosecutor offices, including the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office and territorial Prosecutor's Offices.

Among the basic goals to be achieved by implementing the new legislative and institutional regulations on the Prosecution, there are: enhancing the independence and accountability of prosecutors, ensuring the principles of legality and respect for human rights at all stages of prosecution. The document also provides for reducing the number of hierarchically superior prosecutors.

The draft law on Prosecution will be considered by the parliament.

(Editor A. Raileanu)