On January 15, 2021, the Ministry of Justice published the list of the Commission members who will select a candidate for the position of a judge to the ECtHR. The Commission includes 18 members and they must nominate three candidates for the position of the ECtHR Judge by January 29. In the next step, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will select the winner in a plenary session.

“WE HAVE NO LEGAL AUTHORITY
TO DECIDE UPON COMMISSION MEMBERS.” On January 14, President Maia Sandu, in a letter addressed to the Government and the Ministry of Justice, requested Pavel Abraham’s withdrawal from the Commission, a member appointed by the former president Igor Dodon. Judge Viorica Puică was appointed in his place. The presidential adviser on justice Olesea Stamate stated that Pavel Abraham’s withdrawal was due to his doubtful integrity. Subsequently, ZdG wrote that the Commission member appointed by Igor Dodon would be a controversial official in Romania. Despite the accusations and ignoring the president’s request, the Commission’s first meeting took place the following week with Pavel Abraham as a member. The Commission members argued that
they have no authority to exclude any members.
“It’s a sensitive issue. The Commission members have all been put in an embarrassing situation; in fact, someone tried to force us to make decisions that do not fall within the Commission’s jurisdiction. According to the law and the Government’s decision, we cannot decide upon members of the Selection Commission. It is a conflict between the Presidency and the Government. Only these two institutions can resolve the issue,” says deputy Dinu Plângău, member of the Selection Commission.

CONNECTIONS AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST BETWEEN CANDIDATES AND COMMISSION MEMBERS During the first meeting, the Commission examined the files of the 13 contest candidates. The members selected eleven contenders during the interview test. ZdG identified connections between the candidates who passed for the next round and Commission members, which could lead to conflicts of interest. According to the Commission members, Minister of Justice and President of the Commission Fadei Nagacevschi was the only member to notify the conflict of interest at the first meeting. ZdG analyzed the CVs of the eleven remaining candidates, following their links and relevance to the Commission members.

FIRST CANDIDATE: VLADISLAV GRIBINCEA’S LINKS The candidate for the position of ECtHR judge, Vladislav Gribincea, has worked in the non-governmental sector since 2002. Since 2010, he has been President of the Center for Legal Resources in Moldova. The candidate indicates in his CV that he was an expert in developing the Justice Sector Reform Strategy for 2011-2016 and the reform of the legislation on judicial organization, civil procedure, and criminal procedure. At the same time, he led the experts team that drafted the legislation on the reform of the Prosecutor’s Office of Moldova. Contender Gribincea participated in developing the Law on Freedom of Expression and the Law on the Government Agent.
In 2006-2010, Gribincea worked in an association of lawyers for human rights, alongside Fadei Nagacevschi, the President of the Commission for appointing the ECHR Moldovan judge. The Commission members know the two have kinship ties, as Nagacevschi notified this conflict of interests. At the same time, Fadei Nagacevschi’s father, Vitalie Nagacevschi, is Gribincea’s wedding godfather.
In the years 2002-2004, Vladislav Gribincea carried out didactic activities at the Faculty of Law of Moldova State University, together with another member of the Commission Violeta Cojocaru. In 2010-2018, the contender Gribincea worked together with two Commission members- Violeta Cojocaru and Mariana Timotin.

CANDIDATE NICOLAE EȘANU’S CONNECTIONS
Nicolae Eșanu was state secretary in 2013-2019 at the Ministry of Justice. He held the same position in 2004-2009, during the Communist Party of Moldova government. Since 2005, Eșanu has been Moldova’s representative member at the Venice Commission.
The candidate Nicolae Eșanu also worked together with the President of the Commission for the candidate’s selection for the judge position to the ECtHR. In November 2019 both worked in the Ion Chicu’s Government. Eșanu became the legal adviser in the Prime Minister’s office, and Nagacevschi was Minister of Justice. At the same time, the candidate Eșanu carried out didactic activities at the Faculty of Law of Moldova State University, together with two other members of the Commission: Violeta Cojocaru, the former dean of the faculty, and Mariana Timotin, vice-dean of the faculty.

CANDIDATE DIANA SCOBIOALĂ’S CONNECTIONS
Candidate Diana Scobioală is the daughter of the former judge at the Supreme Court of Justice Iulia Sârcu and former prosecutor Isai Sârcu. The contender has been leading the National Institute of Justice since 2015.
Diana Scobioală has several links with Commission members who are going to evaluate her for the position of ECtHR judge.
Scobioală’s CV shows that she worked as a lecturer during 1998-2004 at the French-speaking department of the Faculty of Law of Moldova State University. In 2002 the candidate collaborated with the Commission member Violeta Cojocaru, while Cojocaru was the deputy director of this department. The two were fellows at Moldova State University until 2020 when Cojocaru became the Chairperson of the Supervisory Board at the media institution TeleradioMoldova.
Additionally, candidate Scobioală and Commission member Cojocaru have been working together at the National Institute of Justice for seven years.
Another connection of Diana Scobioală is with the Commission member Mariana Timotin, both working at the Faculty of Law at the State University of Moldova.
ZdG found that Diana Scobioală is in a possible conflict of interests with Tamara Chișcă-Doneva, interim president of the Supreme Court of Justice. Commission assessor Doneva declared for ZdG that she and the candidate’s mother were colleagues and that they are in a kin relationship. “Her mother baptized my child.” Doneva stated that “, if anyone requests recusal at the interview, we will notify about it, and the Commission will decide further.”
Asked if, in her opinion, this could influence the results of the contest, the member of the Commission stated that “each member must decide impartially”. “It is one of my 18 votes, how much can it influence the situation?” Doneva asks, assuring us that “each member of the Commission is responsible for his/her vote.”

CANDIDATE VLADIMIR GROSU’S CONNECTIONS
Another candidate for the judge position at the ECtHR is Vladimir Grosu, an associate professor and lawyer. During 2006-2011 he was a Moldovan Government representative to the ECtHR, presenting cases following the protests of April 7, 2009, at ECtHR. In one of these cases, he underlined that there was no torture on April 7. Later Grosu declared for ZdG that he had done the right thing according to his duties. During 2011- 2015, he worked as Deputy Minister of Justice, later becoming the Minister of Justice.
Candidate Grosu’s and one of the Commission members, Mariana Timotin, have worked together since 1997 in the Criminal Law Department within Moldova State University.
At Moldova State University, Grosu became a colleague with the current member of the Commission Violeta Cojocaru, who held positions within the institution since 1995. For example, in 2018 she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Law.
Candidate Grosu has links with the Commission member and current Government Agent Oleg Rotari.

CANDIDATE VITALIE GAMURARI’S CONNECTIONS
Vitalie Gamurari is the former spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Moldova. He is an Associate Professor and the director of the Doctoral School of Law at the Free International University of Moldova. Candidate Gamurari and Commission member Serghei Țurcan worked together at the Free International University of Moldova during 19982017. During 2018-2019, candidate Gamurai became Dean of the faculty and subsequently, Gamurari held other positions within the institution.
At the same time, Gamurari, and since 2015, has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Government Agent at the Ministry of Justice of Moldova, which, in 2017, elected Oleg Rotari, member of the Commission, as a Government Agent.

CANDIDATE APOSTOL’S CONNECTIONS
Lilian Apostol served as a Government Agent of Moldova from December 2012-2015, when the Government approved his resignation request. Prior to this, during June 2009 December 2012, Apostol was Deputy Head of the Government Agent Department of the Ministry of Justice. Thus, for a period of five months, his activity crosses with that of Oleg Rotari, member of the Commission, who was a consultant at the Department between June 2008 and November 2009.
At the same time, the candidate indicates in his CV that, during 2001- 2008, he was a prosecutor at the Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office and other departments. During 2003-2008, Angela Motuzoc, a member of the Commission, worked as a prosecutor at Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office. Lilian Apostol graduated from Moldova State University, the Law Department, in 1996, the same year as Mariana Timotin, another member of the Commission.
Candidate Mîțu’s connections Gheorghe Mîțu is a judge at the Rîșcani Court, Chișinău, appointed in 2014 for a term of five years. In June 2006, he worked in the administration of President Vladimir Voronin, as Senior Consultant in the President’s
Records Service within the Law and Public Relations Directorate, from where he resigned in 2010.
The candidate Gheorghe Mîțu has been a lecturer and Associate Professor at Moldova State University since 2003. From 2012, for two years, he was deputy dean of the Faculty of Law of Moldova State University; therefore, he is a colleague with two members of the Commission, Violeta Cojocaru, and Mariana Timotin.

CANDIDATE PRISAC’S CONNECTIONS
Alexandru Prisac holds a lawyer’s license since 2010, and, in addition to his activity in the judiciary, he is currently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Moldova University of European Studies. In 2009-2011, the candidate Prisac and Oleg Rotari, members of the Commission, were doing their master’s degree studies at the Faculty of Law of the same university, where Prisac worked as a university lecturer. Asked by Ziarul de Garda, Prisac denied being acquainted with Oleg Rotari since university and even specified that he does not know him at all.

CANDIDATE GURIN’S CONNECTIONS
Marin Gurin, the former Prosecutor General Corneliu Gurin’s brother, was appointed as a senior consultant at the Representation Directorate to the European Court of Human Rights in November 2015, and in March 2016 he was promoted as Government Agent at the ECtHR, being the only candidate who applied for the contest. Six months later, he asked to be suspended on his own initiative.
Gurin obtained his degree in Law at the Free International University of Moldova, where he studied in 19982003, during which time Serghei Țurcan, a member of the Commission, worked as a lecturer there.

LILIAN MORARU’S CONNECTIONS
In 2015-2017, Lilian Moraru held the position of Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Moldova to France and the Principality of Monaco.
Moraru and member of the Commission Gheorghe Leucă worked together at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova for about one year (2019-2020). Leuca held the position of Secretary of State, and Moraru was the head of the Directorate for Multilateral Cooperation at the same Ministry until he was appointed Consul General of Moldova in Nice (France) on December 16, 2020.

CANDIDATE BURAC’S CONNECTIONS
Victor Burac has been a licensed lawyer since 2002. Since 1994 he has worked as a lecturer at the Department of International Law and Law of External Economic Relations at Moldova State University, where he is a colleague with Violeta Cojocaru and Mariana Timotin.
Asked by ZdG to comment on possible conflicts of interest in the contest, Mariana Timotin refused to speak, stating that “that’s the situation, sorry.” Her colleague, Violeta Cojocaru, stated that “when there is a conflict of interest, it must be announced. Only one member announced today of a conflict regarding a candidate,” referring to the kin relationship between the candidate Gribincea and the President of the Commission, Fadei Nagacevschi.
The Commission met on January 27 to interview the eleven candidates and to select three candidates for the position of Moldova’s judge to ECtHR. The candidates selected for the position of an ECtHR judge are Diana Scobioală, director of the National Institute of Justice, Vladimir Grosu, former Minister of Justice, and Nicolae Eșanu, former Secretary of State within the same minister. These are the candidates that accumulated the highest score after the interview test.