The panel of judges chaired by Judge Nadejda Mazur, which hears the so-called ‘ambulances case’ against Serafim Urecheanu, a former mayor of Chisinau and the leader of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party, has been recused today by the defence for “double standards, bias, and violation of the right to a fair trial”. The defence attorney, Vasile Rahlea set forth reasons for the recusal before another panel chaired by Judge Vladimir Brasoveanu. In his words, Judge Nadejda Mazur demonstrated use of double standards and partiality, and denied the defendant the right to a fair trial at a court sitting last week, when she granted the request of Prosecutor Alexandru Bernaz to postpone the hearing of Grigore Gorea, an ex-investigator at the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, who was summoned as a defence witness. Today the panel accepted again the prosecutor’s request to excuse Gorea from testifying. On the other hand, the court accepted to hear Viorel Hiscenco, a representative for the City Hall, even though his proxy was unstamped and apparently bore a defective signature. That was, in Rahlea’s opinion, a proof of duplicity. The lawyer argued that the defence needed Gorea’s testimony to prove that certain high-ranking officials were involved in fabricating and initiating the ‘ambulances case’. Rahlea explained that Gorea was supposed to tell the court about the pressure put on him when investigating the case, as well as about the consequences he had to bear after he refused to continue fabricating the case. Serafim Urecheanu stated for his part that he agreed with the recusal because of the judges’ susceptibility to the manipulations of the accusation. The former mayor also reminded that Grigore Gorea used to testify in the cases against the City Council Secretary, Vladimir Sarban, and other city officials. Urecheanu reiterated his assumption that the witnesses in his case are strongly discouraged from testifying. Prosecutor Bernaz, backed by the representative for the City Hall, stated that the disqualification was unfounded and the court was right not to let Gorea bear witness. Gorea told Info-Prim Neo that he was stupefied by the court’s decision to ignore his testimony, given that he stood in the witness box for three hours when the court heard the case of Sarban. He went on to add that the ‘ambulances case’ was fabricated at the order of the incumbent Prosecutor General, Valeriu Gurbulea. Judge Vladimir Brasoveanu accepted the recusal submitted by the defence and ordered that a new panel hear the case. The extended panel of the Supreme Court of Justice dropped all charges against Urecheanu in May 2007. However, the prosecution insisted that the case be brought again before a lower court.