Moldovan government supports exclusion of parlamentary immunity

Chisinau, 5 April /MOLDPRES/ - The government today approved the notification on the draft law on amendment of the Article 70 of Moldova’s Constitution, which provides for the exclusion of MPs’ immunity. Thus, criminal investigation against lawmakers could be started without the preliminary agreement of the parliament, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

The draft reads that the parliamentary immunity does not represent an absolute subjective right, an MP can give up and neither a privilege, contrary to the citizens’ equality before the law; it is a constitutional guarantee reserved to the MP.   

Under the draft law, the Venice Commission established that “inviolability against the arrest, detention, search and prosecution in cases when an offence was committed is the most problematic and controversial part of the concept of parliamentary immunity.” At the same time, the Venice Commission considers that the norms regulating the parliamentary inviolability do not represent a needed part of a modern democracy.    

The European Court of Human Rights says that when a state recognizes an immunity of its lawmakers, the protection of the fundamental rights might be affected.

Also, Moldova’s Constitutional Court gave a positive opinion on the issue of exclusion of MPs’ inviolability.  

Presently, the Article 70, paragraph 3 of Moldova’s Constitution stipulates that a lawmaker cannot be detained, arrested, searched, except for the cases of glaring offence, or sued at law without the parliament’s agreement, after his/her hearing.