Civil society organizations regret the discussing by Moldova’s President of a case examined by the Constitutional Court (CC) with the head of the Court. In a public appeal, the NGOs express their concern about the fact that the Court’s head tried to justify himself before the President and stated his opinion on the examined case before the passing of the CC judgment. According to the signatories, such a behavior seriously spoils the Constitutional Court’s image, IPN reports.
The NGOs request the CC to adopt a decision about the given situation and to adopt measures to prevent such cases in the future. They also request President Igor Dodon to stop interfering in the CC’s work.
The signatories question the constitutionality of the legal provisions by which the budgetary-fiscal policy is amended to introduce another mechanism for calculating local taxes for the extraction of useful minerals, to extend the concessions on the sale of tobacco products and to modify the method of levying excise duties in the activity of duty-free shops. On April 9, the CC accepted the challenges, arranging to examine them on April 13, and suspended the action of the whole law for which the Government assumed responsibility on April 2.
On April 10, President Dodon in a TV program said that he discussed the April 9 decision of the CC with the Court’s head Vladimir Țurcan. He noted that he asked for details from Țurcan about this case and the latter said that four constitutional judges voted in favor of such a decision, while he formulated a separate opinion and provided arguments showing that the challenged law is constitutional. The text of the April 9 judgment does not say how the CC judges voted or that there was a separate opinion. At the start of the April 13 hearing, making reference to particular reactions to the April 9 judgment, Vladimir Țurcan announced his decision to refrain from examining the aforementioned challenges. The CC accepted the decision and the hearing thus continued in the absence of Țurcan.
The NGOs say it is regrettable that President Dodon uses powers defined by the Constitution to discuss examined cases with the CC head, while the latter accepts to inform the President about these and justifies his actions. “Such actions, together with the suspicions about the appointment of some of the judges of the Constitutional Court according to political criteria, run counter to the legal provisions and affect the image and credibility of the Constitutional Court. The communication of constitutional judges with sides and other interested players on pending cases is inadmissible in any democratic state, representing interference in the Constitutional Court’s work. Moreover, in the case of ordinary judges, such a behavior in the Republic of Moldova can even lead to the dismissal of the judge,” runs the appeal.
The signatories are: Legal Resources Center of Moldova, Institute for European Policies and Reforms, Promo-LEX Association, “WatchDog.MD” Community, Transparency International Moldova, Center for Policies and Reforms, and Associations for Participatory Democracy.
