The Chișinău Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld the appeal of anti-corruption prosecutors on the extension of the judicial control applied to suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo for another 60 days, but also accepted the appeal of Stoianoglo’s lawyers.

More precisely, in a comment to ZdG, lawyer Victor Munteanu, one of Stoianoglo’s defenders, told us that the appeal judges accepted both the appeal of the prosecutors and that of the defenders. Thus, the judicial control imposed on the suspended Prosecutor General was extended for another 60 days, but at the same time the appeal of the lawyers was admitted, regarding the annulment of the restrictive measures imposed on Stoianoglo, with the exception of two of the measures – the obligation to appear before the criminal prosecution body or the court and not to commit actions likely to prevent the discovery of the truth in the criminal trial.

“They allowed the appeals both to the prosecutors and to the defence. They extended the judicial control for 60 days, but annulled all restrictions except two restrictions under Article 191(2) and (4). So it is about the obligation to appear before the criminal prosecution body or the court and the obligation not to commit actions that could hinder the finding of the truth in the criminal proceedings”, said Victor Munteanu.

“Admit the appeals of the prosecutor in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Victor Furtună and of the lawyer Vasile Gafton, quash the decision of the Chisinau Ciocana Court of 11 August, rehear the case and pronounce a new decision partially admitting the prosecutor’s request and extending the term of the preventive measure of provisional release under judicial control for a period of 60 days”. The period of provisional release is calculated from 12 August to 11 October.”, said the decision of the Chisinau CA of 23 August.

On 13 July this year, the magistrates of the Ciocana Court of Chisinau examined the request for the extension of the preventive measure in the form of provisional release under judicial control for a period of 60 days, applied to the suspended Prosecutor General. As a result of the examination, the magistrates ordered the partial admission of the application and extended the preventive measure in the form of provisional release under judicial supervision for a period of 30 days, applied to Stoianoglo.

Alexandr Stoianoglo was remanded in custody on 5 October 2021. He is being investigated for passive bribery, false statements, abuse of office and exceeding official duties. The suspended head of the PG denies all charges and pleads not guilty.

The case in which the suspended Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo, is accused of violating the inviolability of personal life after publicly reading messages from Morari’s phone has reached the magistrates’ table
On 23 May, after more than three hours of debate, the PSC approved the report of the Evaluation Commission and gave the suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo an “unsatisfactory” rating.

The evaluation of Stoianoglo’s work was completed at the end of April and a report on his work 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 attributed 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”.