The Pre-Vetting Commission announces on Tuesday, February 7, the final results of the evaluation of candidates for the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) among career judges. According to the Commission, magistrates Ion Chirtoaca and Aureliu Postica, from the Chisinau Court of Appeals, Buiucani seat, Marina Rusu from the Cahul Court of Appeals, Taraclia seat, and Alexei Panis, from the Chisinau Court of Appeals, Riscani seat, did not pass the evaluation. The conclusion is contained in the reasoned decisions, which were sent to the candidates today.

Candidate judges have 48 hours to notify the Commission Secretariat whether they object to the publication of the decisions. Otherwise, they will be placed in full on the websites of the SJC and the Pre-Vetting Commission in a depersonalised form.

“The Commission’s decisions are subject to appeal and may be challenged before the Supreme Court of Justice within 5 days of receipt, without prior procedure, in accordance with Article 14 para. (1) and (2) of Law No 26/2022”, the Commission states.

According to the Minister of Justice, Sergiu Litvinenco, out of the total of 28 judges who applied for this competition, only 5 passed the evaluation. 5 out of 28. Thus, the promotion rate is about 18% and the non-promotion rate – 82%.

“I know that there are reservations about this exercise, both from within the system and outside it. But this is natural and a sign that people are not indifferent to the justice process. However, even with all these reservations, we can draw some conclusions:

1) Although we knew that the situation in the judiciary was serious, we now have the full picture and the practical dimensions of this problem. 2) The stocktaking exercise must continue. With greater speed, but without reducing quality. To do this, those actions must be taken that allow us to move faster – more committees, more staffed secretariats, more resources, etc. 3) There is no other way to clean up the sector than to move forward with the extraordinary external evaluation. We also have responsibilities arising from our EU candidate status, but for citizens to have real confidence in Justice, rigorous and qualitative selection of candidates is needed. We will continue on this path, because it is the only one that will lead to a cleaner justice system,” Litvinenco said in a Facebook post.

The Pre-Vetting Commission has completed its evaluation of candidates for the CSM, among judges, with 5 decisions of promotion and 23 decisions of non-promotion. The five candidates who passed the evaluation are magistrates from the lower courts. Candidates who failed the assessment continue to work in the judiciary, but are no longer eligible to participate in the competition for membership of the CSM.

Currently, the Pre-Vetting Commission assesses non-judge candidates for CSM positions from the list submitted by the Parliament.