Moldova’s New Govt Warns Justice System: Change is Coming

Moldova's new Justice Minister, Sergiu Litvinenco, has warned prosecutors that the times of legal impunity for rich oligarchs and those who have committed crimes are over.

"I tell you [prosecutors] what I mean by the rule of law. The rule of law is when prosecutors do not let a billion [euros] out of the country and pretend it is raining. The rule of law is when court decisions are not sold like in the market, and justice is not just for those with expensive cars and villas and millions stolen," he said on Tuesday.

He added all the main problems with Moldovan justice come from impunity, "when thieves are not afraid of being punished …But these times are over. And people will see this soon," he wrote on his Facebook.

Litvinenco on Tuesday also said he had initiated the dismissal process for the General Prosecutor, Alexandr Stoianoglo.

Authorities would shortly "amend the law on the Prosecutor's Office, including mechanisms to evaluate the activity of the Prosecutor General and establish his disciplinary liability," he said.

His angry reaction came after the General Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday responded to the dismissal threat by saying the country's new pro-EU authorities, meaning President Maia Sandu and Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, of "misunderstand the principles of the rule of law."

"The level of understanding by the current government of the principles of the rule of law is unexpectedly weak and, at the moment, we do not see the point in commenting on anything else. The response of the Prosecutor's Office to any attack on its institutional and procedural independence will be proportional to the gravity of such attacks," Maria Vieru, spokesperson of the Office, told the news portal anticoruptie.md.

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