Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) have admitted the prosecutor’s request to extend the term of the preventive measure – an order not to leave the country for 60 days, regarding Igor Dodon. The decision was taken at a hearing on Monday 16 January.

Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon is accused of committing the crime of passive bribery, organising and accepting political party financing from a “criminal organisation” in the so-called “Kuliok” case.

At the same time, the request submitted by Igor Dodon’s lawyers to recuse the panel of judges examining the case was rejected as unfounded, the press service of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office told Ziarul de Gardă.

“The president of this panel was appointed as interim president of the CSJ after the current government made changes to the law, specifically for the sake of this appointment. (…) These dubious moves do not give me confidence in the process of dispensing justice,” Igor Dodon posted on his Facebook page in reference to the request to recuse the panel of judges examining his case.

On 18 November 2022, Igor Dodon was released from house arrest and placed under judicial control, with a ban on leaving the country.

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 try criminal cases involving offences committed by a head of state at first instance.

“According to the charges brought against Igor Dodon, the latter is accused of having demanded and accepted from them money in the amount of $600,000 to $1,000,000 in order to promote the interests of Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov, who created and led a criminal organization and had an interest in controlling the political, social and economic processes in Moldova, as well as to evade criminal liability in the Russian Federation. 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 a statement published earlier by the PA.