Initiating criminal proceedings against judges will be thereafter possible without the prior consent of the Higher Magistracy Council (CSM), a simple notification being enough. The Parliament on Friday, March 28, passed in a final reading, with the votes of the Communist majority, a relevant bill amending the legislation that regulates judicial inviolability, Info-Prim Neo reports. The bill has been sharply criticized by the parliamentary opposition and the CSM, as well as judges, lawyers and representatives of the civil society, who argued that the amendments would heavily harm the principle of judicial independence. The adopted amendments vest the Prosecutor General with the right to initiate criminal proceedings against a judge without the approval of CSM. Instead, the Prosecutor is obliged to notify the CSM, the President of Moldova, or, if necessary, the Parliament of the start of the proceedings. In addition, criminal proceedings against Constitutional Judges may be initiated by the Prosecutor by just notifying the Constitutional Court. The bill’s authors explain the need for the proposed amendments by stating that certain provisions contained in the current legislation misinterpret the principle of judicial independence, granting judges some sort of supremacy, which makes them virtually immune to criminal investigations and prosecution, even in the case of obvious offending behaviors. Speaking at the Parliament meeting, the chair of the parliamentary commission for appointments and immunity, Vladimir Turcanu, stated that equaling the levels of immunity granted to judges and parliamentarians represents a further step in disciplining judges, which will by no means cause troubles to the honest magistrates. MP Ion Plesca of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party has stated that all the judges are against these amendments. Instances of prosecutors threatening judges with criminal proceedings have already occurred, said Ion Plesca. At the same meeting, the Parliament passed in first reading the proposal to raise magistrates’ salaries by an average 500 lei, in a move to equal the salaries paid to judges with those paid to district chairmen and deputy ministers. The amendments will take effect after promulgation and upon publishing in the Official Gazette.