The Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) will repeatedly ask President Maia Sandu to appoint seven judges until the age ceiling is reached. The decision was taken at a meeting on Friday, September 15, when the requests of nine magistrates were examined.

The list of judges to go before the head of state:

1. Veaceslav Martînenco, Chisinau Court (Ciocana seat)
2. Serafim Vasilache, Chisinau Court (Centre seat)
3. Eugeniu Beșelea, Chisinau Court (Centre seat)
4. Dragoș Crigan, Chisinau Court (Centre seat)
5. Lucia Bagrin, Chisinau Court (Centre seat)
6. Nicolae Ghedrovici, Anenii Noi Court (central seat)
7. Igor Negreanu, Orhei Court (Rezina seat)

Lorina Ciubotaru’s application was rejected by a vote of seven SCM members. However, three members announced that they would formulate a separate opinion.

In the case of Judge Irina Păduraru, from the Chisinau Court of Appeals, Buiucani seat, the SCM decided, with seven votes in favour and two against, to postpone the decision to refer the case to the Disciplinary College. The magistrate was asked about a situation that the press wrote about at the end of 2021, in the case of former anti-corruption chief Viorel Morari, when Judge Ana Cucerescu said that she was intimidated by the other two members of the court complex and that her rights and obligations as a reporting judge were restricted, which is why she would not be able to adopt an impartial solution on the case.

According to the law on the status of judges, as in force since August 2023, the President of the Republic of Moldova may reject only once the candidate proposed by the SCM for appointment to the position of judge and only in case of detection of circumstances confirming the incompatibility of the candidate with the position, of violation by him of the law or of violation of the legal procedures for his selection and promotion.

The SCM also tried in May to examine a list of 25 judges, including 13 judges previously rejected by President Maia Sandu, who were seeking appointment until they reached the age limit, but the matter was postponed then.

The Presidency’s 2022 application states that the applications of the 13 judges were mainly rejected because of disciplinary sanctions imposed on some judges.

List of the 13 magistrates rejected by President Maia Sandu:

Victoria Hadîrcă, judge at the Chisinau Court of Appeals
Silvia Slobodzean, judge, Straseni Court
Lucia Bagrin, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Rodica Berdilo, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Lorina Ciubotaru, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Olga Ionascu, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Victoria Sanduța, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Angela Vasilenco, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Dragos Crigan, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Marcel Gandrabur, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Veaceslav Martînenco, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Serafim Vasilache, Judge, Chisinau Court of Appeals
Iurie Movilă, Judge, Orhei District Court

In October 2022, the President issued a decree appointing 14 judges. The judges were from a list of 39 names proposed to the head of state by the SCM.

“In order to determine the degree to which the candidates meet the rigors of professionalism and integrity, the presidency requested information from several relevant public institutions. Based on the assessment obtained, President Maia Sandu had previously rejected 13 of the candidates proposed by the SCM. Regarding the other 12, the conclusion is that some of them do not meet the necessary criteria to be judges, and for others there are still questions to be clarified at the SCM,” the Presidency said at the time.

ZDG has received the document on the rejection of the 11 judges: Galina Ciobanu, Larisa Lavric, Irina Păduraru, Viorel Botnaraș, Eugeniu Beșelea, Ion Chirtoaca, Nicole Ghedrovici, Valeriu Hudoba, Igor Negreanu, Victor Olărescu and Alexei Paniș.