The first court hearing in the “kuliok” case, in which former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, a socialist, is accused of demanding almost $1 million from Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov to negotiate with the Russian Federation, takes place on Monday, October 17, at the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).

Igor Dodon is the first head of state to be tried for a crime committed while in office. For this reason, the case has been referred directly to the CSJ, which, by law, is competent to try criminal cases involving offences committed by a head of state at first instance.

Ion Vîzdoagă, Petru Balan and Nicolae Posturusu are the lawyers of socialist Igor Dodon. Dodon’s defenders have called for the recusal of prosecutors Petru Iarmaliuc and Vitalie Codreanu on the grounds that the case should be handled by prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), but not from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA). CSJ judges have later registered the request for recusal of Judge Vladimir Timofti submitted by Dodon’s lawyers.

After the judges of the CSJ entered into deliberations, socialist Igor Dodon came out in front of the court, where some supporters were waiting for him, and declared that “this case will enter the textbooks of jurisprudence in Moldova”.

“(…) Prosecutors from the PG must be delegated to the CSJ. Iarmaliuc has 2.5 years in the prosecutor’s office. He has no four-year stint (…). Today they will determine whether prosecutors will be these or not, whether judges will be these or not, because the CSJ examines the cases of the former president (…). There are a lot of elements to get into the details of the case. Given that the file is of national importance, never in 31 years of independence has the president of the country reached this point. Everything related to the procedure on this case must be carefully examined (…). This case will enter the textbooks of jurisprudence in Moldova (…). I am strong, I hold myself in my hands. I have not fled the country (…),” Dodon said.

The panel of judges examining Igor Dodon’s case

The panel of judges examining the criminal case consists of three magistrates – Anatolie Turcan, Vladimir Timofti and Ghenadie Plămădeală.

Anatolie Turcan was appointed as a judge of the CSJ in 2016 until he reached the age of 65. Previously, he served as a judge at the Chisinau Court of Appeal, a judge at the Rascani Court and a judge at the Ocnita Court.

Anatolie Turcan was a member of the panel of the Supreme Court of Justice, together with Vladimir Timofti and Nadejda Toma, which brought to a close the case of controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon. The three judges declared Platon’s lawyer’s appeal against the Chisinau Court of Appeal’s decision upholding his 18-year prison sentence unfounded.

Previously, Anatolie Turcan served as a member of the SCM for 8 years, two consecutive terms. When he was a member of the SCM, Turcan was promoted by his colleagues from the Chisinau CA to the CSJ.

Vladimir Timofti was appointed in 2002 as a judge until he reached the age limit, according to magistrat.md. Later, in 2003, he was appointed as a judge at the CSJ. In 2012, Timofti was conferred the higher qualification of judge, and in 2014 he was awarded the Honorary Diploma of the Superior Council of Magistracy.

Vladimir Timofti was part of the panel of judges at the CSJ who, on 12 February 2017, rejected as inadmissible the appeals filed by the parties in the case of former Prime Minister Vladimir Filat, tried for passive corruption and influence peddling, previously sentenced by the Buiucani Court to nine years in prison with execution.

Ghenadie Plămădeală has been a judge since 1999, when he was appointed to the Court of Hâncești. Two years later, in 2001, he was transferred to the Buiucani Court, and in 2004 he was appointed until he reached the age limit. In 2014, 2016 and 2019, Ghenadie Plămădeală was rated “very good” by members of the College for the Evaluation of Judges’ Performance.

The charges against Igor Dodon

On October 6, 2022, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced the indictment of the criminal case against the former President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, in the commission of the crime of passive bribery and organization and acceptance of political party financing from a criminal organization, committed during his term as President of the Republic of Moldova in June 2019.

The two-count case against Igor Dodon has been submitted to the CSJ for examination on the merits. According to the provisions of Article 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the CSJ is competent to judge in first instance criminal cases concerning crimes committed by the President of the Republic of Moldova, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

“According to the charges brought against Igor Dodon, the latter is accused of having, in order to promote the interests of Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov, who created and led a criminal organization and who had an interest in controlling political, social and economic processes in Moldova, as well as in evading criminal liability in the Russian Federation, demanded and accepted from them money in the amount of $600,000 to $1,000,000. This amount was demanded by Igor Dodon to pay the current expenses of the political party “Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova” (PSRM), including the salaries of the employees of the same party,” reads the statement published by the AP.

“We would like to point out that the mentioned amount was collected from Plahotniuc Vladimir and Yaralov Sergei in order to negotiate, in his capacity as President of the Republic of Moldova, with the decision-makers of the Russian Federation, favorable conditions for the political party “Democratic Party of Moldova” (PDM) and, personally, for Plahotniuc Vladimir on the creation of a governing coalition in the Republic of Moldova between the political party “PDM” and the political party “PSRM”. The interest of this coalition included the distribution of ministerial positions in the new government and the leadership of public institutions, as well as the release of Plahotniuc Vladimir from criminal liability on the pending cases against him, which are under the management of law enforcement bodies in the Russian Federation,” state prosecutors also say.

Dodon: “I declare myself completely innocent and we will prove this in court”

“Further, in the management of the PA, three other episodes remain under investigation at the stage of criminal prosecution on the accusation of former President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon of committing the crimes of illicit enrichment, violation of the management of financial means of political parties or electoral funds, as well as treason against the Motherland,” prosecutors state.

The PA announces that, with regard to some persons, who participated in the commission of crimes and acted in complicity with Igor Dodon, with reference to Vladimir Plahotniuc and Serghei Iaralov, whose whereabouts are known, “the criminal prosecution continues, and the PA will communicate separately about the results obtained”.

“I declare myself completely innocent and we will prove this in court. This is a 100% political case, sewn with yellow thread, with false witnesses. In addition, we have identified numerous irregularities and mistakes on the part of the prosecutors, who rushed to send the case to court to report to the country’s leadership on the tasks they set themselves,” Igor Dodon said after the case was sent to court.

Igor Dodon is the first head of state to be tried for a crime committed while in office. For this reason, the case was referred directly to the CSJ, which by law is competent to judge in first instance criminal cases concerning crimes committed by a head of state.

The criminal prosecution in the case generically called “kuliok” was resumed on 18 May 2022, one day after the Chisinau CA overturned the entire decision of the Chisinau Court, Ciocana sector, on maintaining the order of non-prosecution against the former President of Moldova, issued earlier. The case is based on a video footage of a meeting between Igor Dodon, Vladimir Plahotniuc and Serghei Iaralov in June 2019, in which the PDM leader is seen giving Dodon a black bag in which it was speculated there was money. In that recording, Igor Dodon tells Plahotniuc not to “walk around with his asses” and to pass the bag to Cornel (supposedly Corneliu Forks, ed.), because he was going to pay certain salaries. Plahotniuc then told Iaralov to give the money to Costea (supposedly Constantin Botnari, editor’s note) to pass on to Cornel.

The video footage, published by former MP Iurie Renita, is a continuation of the video recording of the meeting of the three in June 2019, when Dodon said he receives monthly money from the Russian Federation to finance the PSRM. Later, Dodon publicly stated that he had played a role in those discussions, with the aim of ousting Plahotniuc from government.