Six people have submitted applications to take part in the competition to replace judges at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), the Superior Council of Magistracy announced on Friday, January 12. Among the candidates is a former judge of the SCJ, Dumitru Mardari, who resigned in February 2023, and is now applying from the position of lawyer, having been admitted to the profession for about a month.

The second competition was announced at the beginning of November 2023, after 26 people applied for the first one, including 9 judges and 17 non-judges, and one judge and 2 non-judge candidates applied to withdraw their applications.

List of candidates who submitted applications to take part in the competition to replace judges at the Supreme Court of Justice:

1. Ruslan Berzoi – Lawyer
2. Mariana Cherpec – Prosecutor in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Municipality of Chisinau. Chisinau
3. Vladimir Adam – Prosecutor in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office
4. Grigore Manoli – Judge at the Chisinau Court of Appeals
5. Diana Ioniță – Senior Inspector-judge in the Judicial Inspection, specialized body of the Superior Council of Magistracy
6. Dumitru Mardari – Lawyer

Lawyer Ruslan Berzoi was previously an alternate member of the College for the evaluation of prosecutors’ performance, participating in several competitions, where he did not meet the required number of points to be promoted.

Mariana Cherpec took part in the competition for the position of member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP), passing the Pre-Vetting Commission evaluation. She did not receive a sufficient number of votes at the General Assembly of Prosecutors and remains an alternate member.

Vladimir Adam participated in the competition for the position of member of the PSC in 2021, and in 2019 – for the position of Prosecutor General. Adam previously held the position of Chief Prosecutor of the Section for Unification of Prosecution Practice in the Courts within the Judicial Directorate of the Prosecutor General’s Office. He has worked in the prosecution service since 1990, when he was appointed as a trainee at the Transport Prosecutor’s Office. From 2005 to 2008 he was Deputy Head of the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office.

Vladimir Adam

Grigore Manoli has been a civil law magistrate at the Central Branch of the Chisinau Court since 1 January 2019. In May 2021, the SCM approved the transfer of the magistrate to the Chisinau Court of Justice Ciocana seat. He became active in the court in 2015, having previously been a lawyer.

Grigore Manoli

Diana Ioniță has been appointed to the position of chief inspector-judge in the Judicial Inspection for the term of office in June 2023. She began her legal career in 1997 in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Municipality of Chisinau. Chisinau, where she worked until 2007 as interim assistant prosecutor, assistant prosecutor and prosecutor in the section. Since June 2003, he holds the scientific degree – doctor of law.

Diana Ionita

Since 1 September 2008 and until now she has been working as senior lecturer at the Department of Criminal Sciences and university lecturer at the Department of Public Law of the University of European Studies of Moldova. From February 2008 to May 2020 he worked as a lawyer in the CA “Ionita Diana”. Subsequently, by decision of the SCM of May 2020, she was appointed to the position of inspector-judge in the Judicial Inspection, for a term of 6 years, starting on 26 May 2020.

Dumitru Mardari

Dumitru Mardari resigned as a judge at the SCJ in February 2023, along with several colleagues. He passed the bar qualification exam and admission to the legal profession at the end of November 2023, shortly before applying for one of the 9 positions of judge among lawyers, prosecutors or university professors in the field of law.

Dumitru Mardari has been a judge since 1994. In February 2014, he was appointed as a judge at the SCJ until he reached the age limit of 65. Five years later, the plenary of the Superior Council of Magistracy appointed Mardari as interim president of the Civil, Commercial and Contentious Collegium of the SCJ during the suspension of Judge Oleg Sternioală, according to magistrat.md.

ZdG previously wrote that in early 2016, Dumitru Mardari came into possession of two apartments in the Ciocana sector of the capital, of 120 and 87 square meters respectively. Both came into his possession through “testamentary succession” from his father, Vasile. The judge’s father invested in both apartments in 2007-2008, when he was 71-72 years old.

Year 2015: Judges shopping

Dumitru Mardari, at the time his father was investing in apartments, was president of Ciocana Court. Also in 2016, the judge became the beneficiary of four hectares of agricultural land by “legal succession”, but also the owner of no less than 11 rooms, also obtained by legal and testamentary succession. In previous years, the judge has also obtained other properties, mostly in the town of Cupcini, Edinet district. 

On 2 November 2023, the Plenum of the Superior Council of Magistracy announced a competition to fill the vacant positions of judge at the Supreme Court of Justice from among judges and civil society representatives, setting a deadline of 30 calendar days from the date of publication of the announcement on the website of the Superior Council of Magistracy for the submission of applications to participate in the competition.

In accordance with Article 3(1)(b) of Law No 65 of 30 March 2023 on the external evaluation of judges and candidates for the position of judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, candidates are subject to integrity evaluation by the Independent Commission for the Evaluation of the Integrity of Candidates for the Position of Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The SCM first announced a competition to fill 20 vacancies for Supreme Court judges in April 2023. Within the deadline, 17 candidates applied for the competition – 5 candidates from among sitting judges and 12 candidates from among non-judges. The deadline for applications was later extended three times.

“In this context, the Plenary of the Supreme Judicial Council considers that the number of candidates for the position of judge of the Supreme Court of Justice from among judges is insufficient for the organisation and conduct of the competition for the vacant positions of judge of the Supreme Court of Justice. Thus, it cannot be ensured that all the vacant posts put out to tender are filled and that the competition is competitive for candidates from among the judges.

In view of the insufficient number of candidates from the ranks of judges, as well as the withdrawal of some candidates, including non-judges, from the competition, the SCM Plenary considers it appropriate to announce the competition to fill the vacancies for judges at the Supreme Court of Justice in order to ensure the participation of a sufficient number of candidates, in particular from the ranks of judges, including non-judges, in order to ensure the functionality of the supreme judicial court in the full composition provided for by Law No 64/2023.

The announcement of the competition will not delay the process of appointing judges to the Supreme Court of Justice, since the evaluation process is at an initial stage and there is no decision of promotion or non-promotion adopted by the Evaluation Commission regarding the candidates for the position of judge at the Supreme Court of Justice.

Subsequently, the SCM Plenary reveals that the announced and extended competition will be conducted for all candidates in a single procedure, in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation on the selection of judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, adopted by Decision No 171/10 of 23 May 2023,” the SCM decision of 2 November 2023 states.

The new numerical composition of the Supreme Court of Justice is to consist of 11 judges – from among judges and 9 judges – from among lawyers, prosecutors or university professors of law.

The Vetting Commission announced on 25 August that it had sent the candidates registered in the competition for the replacement of the post of judge at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) the 5-year declaration form and the ethics questionnaire for completion, thus starting the process of assessing their integrity. The notification of the start of the assessment comes after the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) sent the Commission the list of 24 remaining candidates on 23 August.

The Vetting Commission notes that two of the 24 candidates on the list sent by the SCM, Yuri Lealin and Leonid Chirtoaca, have passed the integrity assessment under the provisions of Law No 26/2022 on certain measures related to the selection of candidates for membership of self-administrative bodies of judges and prosecutors and will not be subject to repeated assessment.