The fourth sitting of the Constitutional Court (CC) examining the Government’s application for verification of the constitutionality of the “Sor” political party takes place on Monday, May 15. The High Court announced that the Executive’s application will be examined from 10-17 May 2023.

The application states that “the actions of the “Sor” Party do not fall under the guarantees of the right to free association and freedom of opinion and expression, and are to be considered as actions contrary to the constitutional identity of the Republic of Moldova, its national interests and, intrinsically, the sovereignty and independence of the state”.

The author of the application, the Government, is represented before the High Court by lawyers Eduard Digore, Ina Bostan and Andrei Digori. The executive told ZdG that the law firm was selected following a legal procedure. The “Shor” party is represented by Vadim Banaru, Victor Mazniuc, Aureliu Colenco and Denis Calaida.

UPDATE 12:45 CC magistrates ask for clarifications from the representatives of the “Shor” political party on some issues, including the structure of the political party.

UPDATE 12:17 “The Constitutional Court decides: the request of the representatives of the “Shor” Party to attach and search the materials in the part concerning the addresses of some persons to the protesters of the “Shor” Party and those concerning the protests organized in Georgia is rejected. The other materials presented are returned because they were previously annexed in the meeting of 10 May 2023″, said the President of the CC, Nicolae Rosca.

UPDATE 11:50 AM The judges of the High Court entered into deliberations to examine the request of the representatives of the political party to annex a set of documents to the case materials.

UPDATE 11:40 Representatives of the “Shor” party submitted a set of documents, including a list of draft laws drawn up by deputies of the political party, to be attached to the case materials.

Eduard Digore, the representative of the petitioner, says that parliamentarians have an obligation to work in the interest of citizens and to present projects. Thus, they are not related to the complaint and he asks that they be rejected by the High Court.

“On the evidence requested to be administered to the materials of the case, the Government makes the following submissions. As regards the list of achievements with possible projects, we consider that these are to be rejected. First, the Court has already examined the possibility of video evidence in relation to these achievements. It has been rejected and for precisely the same reason the written evidence in this regard is also to be rejected. At the same time, if we look, that information is from the official websites of the City Hall and the APL, which means that this information is from the local public authorities and not from the ‘Shor’ Party.

They have no relevance to the examination of the case and the Court cannot be an instrument or a court where the praises of one party are presented. At the same time, they are presented unilaterally and cannot be verified. At the same time, a list of bills that have been submitted by the deputies of the “Shor” Party was presented. On the same grounds as above, they are to be rejected. Parliamentarians have an obligation to work in the interests of citizens and to present bills. However, as we have seen, they have not even been implemented. They are not related to the complaint and are to be rejected (…)”, said the Executive representative.

UPDATE 10:48 The viewing of the video material has ended.

“From our point of view, it is clear that these protests are presented as spontaneous protests. In fact, they are organised. Apart from this, the leaders of these protests do not mention anything about the concrete fact and the actions taken (…),” said lawyer Eduard Digore, representing the Government.

UPDATE 10:19 The High Court admitted the request of the representatives of the “Shor” Party to attach and investigate only 4 video materials.

“The application of the representatives of the “Shor” Party for the annexation and search of video materials numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 is admitted. The request of the representatives of the “Shor” Political Party to attach and search video materials with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 11 (…) is rejected. We will proceed to the examination of the video materials”, said CC President Nicolae Rosca.

UPDATE 10:11 The meeting is also attended by “Șor” Party MP Marina Tauber, who is under investigation in two criminal cases.

UPDATE 10:10 CC judges have withdrawn in deliberations to examine the petition of the political party representatives.

UPDATE 10:05 The judges of the High Court are examining the request submitted by the lawyers of the “Shor” party for the viewing of 12 video sequences in the CC session, which the defenders claim are “video evidence”. “Sor” party lawyer Vadim Banaru said the footage included statements by Moldovan politicians and footage from a protest in Georgia.

“The first video shows the party’s achievements, how it was founded, what it has achieved. In the second video there are expositions of politicians, where they bring denigrating messages against the party, including members (…),” Vadim Banaru said.

UPDATE 10:04 The CC meeting has started.

In November 2022, the representatives of the Executive submitted a petition to the CC to verify the constitutionality of the “Shor” political party. According to the application “through all its activities so far, the “Șor” Party has acted in contradiction with the principles of the rule of law and endangers the sovereignty and independence of Moldova”.