Today, Andrian Candu, Parliament Speaker, held a press conference after the parliamentary hearings in the case of the expulsion of 7 Turkish citizens from the country, organized on the platform of the National Security, Defense and Public Order Commission and the Parliamentary Control Committee on the Information and Security Service.

“It should be noted that this subject is complicated. Since 1997-1998, the SIS has overwhelmed terrorism (n.red: referring to the 7 Turkish expelled citizens). In the last 3-4 years, 48 foreign persons are oversight. 18 were declared undesirable and 7 were expelled. They have no connection with whoever is in Moldova or Turkey,” declared Candu among other statements.

According to the official, during the last 4-5 years, there are 60-70 expulsions and this is not a novelty for the authorities.

After completing his speech, Andrian Candu left the conference room without answering the questions of any attending journalists.

12 April 2018- The Justice Minister of Moldova, Victoria Iftodi, has participated at the Ministerial Conference in Denmark where more than 20 Justice Ministers adopted the Copenhagen Declaration. The latter voices the concerns of the overload of cases over at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and proposes recommendations.

Iftodi reportedly motivated that the overload of the ECtHR shows the necessity to reform the national system of justice and its performance in the remedy of human rights violations. The Justice Minister emphasized the need to ensure the universality of the human rights to an equal extent in the inter-state areas:

“The Republic of Moldova is confronted with a situation of inter-state conflict with the Russian Federation. As the European Court of Human Rights repeatedly stated, the Republic of Moldova does not exercise an effective control in the occupied territories. Appealing to the ECtHR remains to be the sole efficient method of remedy of the violations of fundamental rights of residents of those territories”, declared Iftodi.

The European Convention for Human Rights entered into force on 12 September 1997 in Moldova.

4 April 2018- The Court of Chișinău (Buiucani) condemned Chiril Lucinschi, former MP, and son of second President of Moldova Petru Lucinschi, to 5 years and a half of imprisonment. The sentence is also accompanied by a penalty fee of 27500 Lei for false declarations, and a ban of 4 years on occupying public positions.

According to the Anticorruption Prosecution Office of Moldova, half of Lucinschi’s two lands, his house, and 23 thousand euros were confiscated within the case.

“There is a feeling that the sentence was written in a place other than court. This sentence is illegal. We showed all proof destroying the accusations”, said the ex-MP after the court session, quoted by Newsmaker.

Lucinschi will be out of domicile arrest but under judiciary control until the final sentence is made public. Prosecutor Eugen Rurac did not indicate if he would appeal the decision, while Lucinschi’s lawyers said that they would contest the sentence and the 10 months long house arrest of their client at the ECtHR.

God forbid if you end up in court and have to face the Moldovan justice. I am sorry about the law students: they learn one thing and have to face another one. From the very beginning, the proof presented by the prosecution was illegal and the court should not have received it”, lawyer Corina Stratan told Newsmaker.

Ex-MP Chiril Lucinschi risks up to 10 years of imprisonment for money laundering

Chiril Lucinschi was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Center and the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office on May 25th. Lucinschi is accused, together with three representatives of a company, of money laundering from Banca de Economii (BEM), Banca Socială and Unibank.

Chiril Lucinschi, son of the second President of the independent Moldova Petru Lucinschi, has been a Liberal-Democrat deputy since December 2010. He left the Parliament in February 2017 and ceded 75% of shares at TV7 to an association of journalists.