The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has notified the Chișinău Government of the application of the suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo and asked for explanations regarding the case in which he is being investigated for passive corruption, false statements, abuse of office and exceeding of official duties.

The information was made public by Victor Munteanu, one of the suspended Prosecutor General’s lawyers, who noted that “the ECtHR has asked the Government to explain why the authorities have banned Alexandr Stoianoglo from attending public meetings and communicating with the press during the criminal proceedings against him”.

The defender also said that “the Moldovan authorities should explain whether Alexandr Stoianoglo’s detention and house arrest were justified by the fact that he repeatedly refused to use his position (as Prosecutor General) to initiate criminal cases against various members of the opposition”.

“(…) The European Court was not convinced that the evidence in the criminal case file, which formed the basis for Alexandr Stoianoglo’s detention and house arrest, was sufficient to convince an objective observer that he had committed the alleged acts for which criminal proceedings were brought against him… Last but not least, the Court asked the Government to justify the fact of Alexandr Stoianoglo’s suspension from the office of Prosecutor General and to restrict his access to the national courts to challenge this measure. The Court considered the case of the criminal persecution of Alexandr Stoianoglo and communicated it as a case of “impact” (…).

The Court considers “impact” cases to be those in which the conclusions of the case may lead to a change or clarification of international or domestic law, if the case addresses moral or social situations, or if it significantly affects human rights… The Court not only asked the Government to justify itself for the political persecution of Alexandr Stoianoglo, but also gave it the opportunity to try to redress the abuses committed against him by initiating the friendly settlement procedure in order to avoid a possible conviction of the Republic of Moldova and the payment of damages from citizens’ money. In the context of the latest positive news about the prospect of Moldova’s accession to the European Union where the role of justice will be one of the filters of acceptance in this civilized community, it would be a pity if citizens are deprived of this prospect because of personal interests, which lie behind the case of Alexandr Stoianoglo and which are against the development of Moldova on the principles of a state based on the rule of law,” the lawyer said in a post on his Facebook page.

Ziarul de Gardă contacted Dumitru Obadă, Moldova’s government agent before the ECtHR for details on the issue, but he did not respond to ZdG calls. We will publish a reaction as soon as we obtain one.

On 23 May, after more than three hours of debate, the Prosecutors’ Superior Council approved the report of the Evaluation Commission and gave an “unsatisfactory” rating to the work of suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo.

Details from the Evaluation Commission report
The evaluation of Stoianoglo’s work was completed at the end of April, and a report was approved by the Evaluation Commission in early May. The members of the Evaluation Commission gave scores from 0 to 10 for each performance indicator assigned to Stoianoglo.

The Commission’s 130-page report reviewed the work of the suspended Prosecutor General. The members of the Evaluation Commission note in the report that during his tenure as Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo allegedly tolerated “the apparently lawful activities of his own employees, prosecutors who were involved in the faulty and unlawful handling of disciplinary proceedings, criminal cases that were subsequently dismissed by court decisions or closed due to lack of facts”. Another conclusion of the report is that files of major public interest were examined superficially or by redirecting referrals to other actors who did not have the institutional powers to initiate criminal investigations.

The report also states that Stoianoglo did not implement any “viable policies” on human resources during his tenure.

The final evaluation score awarded to Stoianoglo by the committee is – 2.19 points, which corresponds to “unsatisfactory”.

Suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, who is subject to a pre-trial detention order in the form of provisional release under judicial supervision, is under investigation for passive bribery, false statements, abuse of office and exceeding his official duties.