Alexandr Nesterovschi, the defector MP under investigation in the case concerning illegal financing of political parties, has been transferred from pre-trial detention to house arrest. The decision was taken on Friday 17 November by the judges of the Ciocana court in Chisinau.

The prosecutors’ request to extend his pre-trial detention for another 30 days was rejected by the court.

On 21 September 2023, the Parliament agreed to waive the parliamentary immunity of MPs Irina Lozovan and Alexandr Nesterovschi with a view to their detention, arrest, search and referral for trial of criminal cases. The draft resolutions providing for this were voted on after Parliament received five requests for waiver of the MPs’ immunity signed by the acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu.

According to Parliament, two of the requests received concern the waiver of parliamentary immunity for the arrest, detention, search and committal for trial of two criminal cases against Irina Lozovan, on the grounds that she has committed several acts provided for in the Criminal Code: knowingly accepting political party funding from an “organised criminal group”; money laundering committed by an “organised criminal group” on a particularly large scale.

On 1 November 2023, the magistrates of the Chisinau Ciocana Court rejected the request of Alexandr Nesterovski’s lawyers to change the detention order so that he could exercise his right to vote in the general local elections.