The case of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat will enter judicial debates next week, state prosecutor Adriana Betisor said after the June 14 hearing, IPN reports.
According to Adriana Betisor, in today’s hearing the judges examined a number of requests to bring witnesses to court by force made by the defense of Vlad Filat. The requests were rejected as groundless and juridical debates are thus to start.
The lawyer for the ex-Premier Igor Popa said that what happened today in court showed once again that this is not a trial held in accordance with the law, but rather a masquerade. “We asked the court to order bringing other witnesses and provided evidence showing that the witnesses were summoned legally, but our requests were not granted,” he stated.
According to Igor Popa, the defense also asked to repeatedly summon Ilan Shor for questioning because this witness is considered non-credible. Vlad Filat continues to be on hunger strike and does not feel well. “We consider the fact that Vlad Filat was today brought by force to court, in handcuffs, when he is on hunger strike, and that he was taken to court before the press is inhuman and degrading treatment and this runs counter to at least Article 3 of the European Convention in Human Rights,” said the lawyer.
Also today, Vlad Filat posted a new message on his Facebook page. He wrote that the sentence in his case is to be pronounced by the end of this month and the punishment with 16-18 years in jail was long ago decided, by Vlad Plahotniuc.
According to Vlad Filat, the sentence started to be written when he became Prime Minister. “The more I insisted on reforms, the longer grew the sentence written by Plahotniuc,” he wrote, offering a chronology of events that he considers confirm the given logic. He makes reference to the raider attack on Agroimbank, Banca de Economii, Victoriabank and Asito in 2011, the hunting incident that happened in Domneasca Forest in 2013, the creation of the minority government and his arrest last October.
“After the elections of 2014, I was pressed to concede the post of Prime Minister. I had to choose between a minority government and a Democratic Premier. I chose the minority government. The dismissal of Chiril Gaburici followed swiftly. It happened after he was invited to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Then the Democratic Party demanded that the post of Prime Minister must be given to it. I said ‘no’. In July, my relatives were arrested. Meanwhile, I asked for the dismissal of the prosecutor general and the governor of the National Bank of Moldova and for a real investigation into the bank fraud. Angry that I can leave without a post, they decided to arrest me. But the trial is the most serious thing. Despite the legal provisions, the hearings are held behind closed doors. They are afraid. And it is much easier to condemn a person in the darkness,” wrote Vlad Filat.
He said the sentence in his case will be passed before the October 30 presidential elections because the Democratic Party wants to have a ‘scapegoat’ in the case of the theft of the billion. “Plahotniuc is the one who decided the punishment. The reason is an older one: I dared to struggle with him and with his diabolic system. Also, my conviction will be an example for others who will dare not to obey.”
Vlad Filat assumes responsibility for his mistakes. “I regret that in 2013 I remained alone and showed political cowardice and could not bring the struggle to an end. But the pressure was very great. I was then accused of destroying the Alliance ands of bringing the Communists to power. My friends from Brussels and Bucharest asked me to concede. And I conceded. As a result, we have a fully captured state and dictatorship. History will judge us all,” he wrote.
Vlad Filat was arrested on October 15, 2015 on charges of influence paddling and passive corruption. He pleads not guilty.
