Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu has lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court requesting a constitutional review of the constitutionality of several legal provisions concerning the procedure for appointing the chief prosecutor of ATU Gagauzia. Specifically, the Prosecutor General considers that the authorization of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia to propose to the Superior Council of Prosecutors the candidate for the post of Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of ATU Gagauzia is inconsistent with the mandatory provisions of the Constitution, IPN reports.
The complaint states that the dissonance is manifested by assigning the right to propose the appointment of the territorial prosecutor exclusively to the UTA Gagauzia through the representative authority. In the author's opinion, this implies a different treatment from an administrative point of view, compared to other local administrations, and from an ethnic point of view - compared to other ethnic groups living in the Republic of Moldova
According to the law, the candidate for the post of Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of ATU Gagauzia is selected by the People's Assembly of Gagauzia on the basis of the conditions and criteria established by law. The candidate is selected following a public competition organized and conducted in accordance with the procedure established by the local law adopted by the Assembly. Subsequently, the People's Assembly shall propose the selected candidate to the Higher Council of Public Prosecutors for verification. If found to meet the requirements, the PSC proposes the appointment to the Prosecutor General.
The provisions of the Constitution stipulate that the Prosecutor General's Office is an autonomous institution within the judicial authority, so that neither the legislative nor the executive power participates in the appointment of prosecutors to office, this task being performed exclusively by the Prosecutor General on the proposal of the PSC.
Thus, the Prosecutor General considers that empowering the People's Assembly of ATU Gagauzia, which is a representative authority whose activity must be addressed also in close connection with its political role, with the power to propose the PSC the candidate for the post of Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of ATU Gagauzia, is in dissonance with the imperative provisions of the Constitution.
"As a result of the unconstitutionality criticisms presented, we consider that the challenged norms, which are the subject of the complaint, do not ensure the respect of the principle of autonomy and independence of the Prosecutor's Office and prosecutors, the principle of separation of state power, guarantee of the rule of law, as stipulated by Article 1, paragraph 3 of the fundamental law," the complaint states.
