“Judges still obey political power, support Communist regime and pass decisions by order,” Mihai Ghimpu

“The judges still obey the political power, support the Communist regime and pass decisions by order,” the Head of Parliament and Acting President Mihai Ghimpu said during the yearly assembly of judges on February 13, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mihai Ghimpu expressed his dissatisfaction with the work of the Moldovan judges. He said that Moldova is the country with the largest number of cases lost at the ECHR. “Who is to blame for this? You want higher salaries, but who will pay for these cases? Is it so difficult to follow the European practices? Why do you get involved in political shows?” Ghimou asked. Mihai Ghimpu accused the judges of obeying orders, saying some of them continue to support the former head of state Vladimir Voronin. “We either live in a democratic state or remain as we were,” he said. In his speech, Mihai Ghimpu said the European Union and the Council of Europe monitor the judicial system in Moldova. “The EU and the EC keep an eye open for the judiciary in order to see if we have a state of law or nor.” He also said that the judges should contribute to the improvement of the situation. “Those judges who do not want to change their positions will anyway have to do it if they want to keep their posts.” At the same meeting, Dumitru Visternicean, the president of the Supreme Council of Magistrates, said last year the Council fulfilled its duties and took steps to strengthen the judiciary. “Certain requirements have been lately imposed that do not meet the reality to my mind. More than 60% of the judges are younger than 50, wh8ile 45% of them were named to posts in 2001-2009. I underline this because I heard that they say the judiciary is too old and should be rejuvenated,” he said. Visterniceanu also said that the initiated reforms endanger the judicial system. “The self-governed judicial bodies are transformed into administrative judicial bodies. We are not against involving the society in the work of the judiciary, but this involvement must be objective,” he said, being applauded by those attending. The yearly assembly was attended by 342 of the 440 judges working at present.