Members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) have postponed consideration of 25 judges’ applications for appointment until they reach the age limit. The matter, which was to be examined at the 23 May meeting, was postponed until the opinion of the parliamentary Committee on Appointments and Immunities on the number of votes applicable to judges who were rejected by the President of Moldova and are to be reconfirmed as judges until the age limit is reached by the SCM.

“I propose to postpone the hearing of the candidates who have been included in the agenda and to request the opinion of the Parliament’s Committee on Appointments and Immunities and the Parliament’s General Legal Directorate on the number of votes applicable to judges who have been rejected by the President of the Republic of Moldova and are to be reconfirmed as judges until the age limit is reached by the SCM,” said SCM member Ion Guzun.

Maria Frunze, a magistrate of the SCM, said that taking into account the exceptional situation in the judiciary, “there are no impediments to examine this issue”. The same position was taken by magistrate Ioana Chironeț: “I believe that we have the possibility to examine this issue and unblock the situation in the system which is quite serious”.

“The existence of an emergency leads us to be more careful when adopting decisions regarding the appointment of judges (…) I propose that we support this request for postponement for a period of a week or two, until we receive an opinion, after which we will take a decision”, said SCM magistrate Alexandru Postică.

The postponement of the hearing of candidates for appointment to the post of judge until they reach the age limit was approved by the vote of six of the eight members of the SCM. However, the SCM magistrates heard Victoria Hadîrcă and Olga Ionașcu, who after the rejection of their candidacies in 2022 by President Maia Sandu did not apply for reappointment, which according to Ion Guzun was at that time a “mandatory procedure”.

The Superior Council of Magistracy has registered the request of 25 judges to be appointed until they reach the age limit. Among the applicants are the 13 judges rejected in 2022 by Moldovan President Maia Sandu. The 2022 presidential application states that the applications of the 13 judges were mainly rejected because of disciplinary sanctions imposed on some judges.