The decision to hold the hearings in the case of ex-Premier Vlad Filat behind closed doors was taken by the court based on the arguments provided by the prosecutor who deals with this case. The arguments were based not on the prosecutor’s wishes, but on the obligation to prevent the hearings from affecting the investigation of the other counts against Vlad Filat by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) said in response to a public call made by a group of NGOs, IPN reports.

According to the PGO, a number of witnesses who were or will be questioned in his case in court are to describe particular circumstances of the offense of which the former Premier is accused, including circumstances that can be yet under investigation, and their presentation in a public hearing could endanger the inquiry and could compromise some of the proofs. Also, the given case is only one of the cases of bank frauds at Banca de Economii.

The PGO noted that the hearings will remain closed until the investigation into these cases is completed or until circumstances that will eliminate any risk to this investigation appear. Then, a part of the process could be made public. The public or closed character of the hearings is decided by the court of law at the request of the sides. Neither defendant Vladimir Filat nor his defense or other persons submitted applications or made additional approaches to the court for the hearings to be made public.

On March 24, a number of nongovernmental organizations made a public call by which they ask that the hearings in the case of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat should be made public. The signatories say the examination of this case in a public manner is very important for increasing the people’s confidence in the legal system. According to them, the public character of these hearings will clarify the situation about the theft of the US$1 billion and will guarantee the accused’s right to a fair trial.