Commission No. 2 (Vetting Commission) starts on Monday, 27 November, the hearing of Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) judges and candidates for SCJ judges. In this context, “for information and clarity”, representatives of the Ministry of Justice presented a summary of the stages of the reform: “what has been done, where we are and what is next”.

1. Commission No. 1 (Pre-Vetting Commission) started its work in April 2022. It assessed all candidates for membership of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) and the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) who submitted their applications by 1 September 2023. Repeat hearings are now taking place for candidates who failed the assessment and challenged the decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commission at the SCJ, and the Supreme Court of Justice has upheld their appeals. After the re-evaluation of the candidates, the Pre-Vetting Commission will end its mandate.

2. Commission No 2 (Vetting Commission) was established in June this year. So far, information has been collected on SCJ judges and candidates for the position of SCJ judge. Today, 27 November, the Vetting Commission started public hearings with the SCJ judges and candidates, who have submitted all necessary documents. The judges Sergiu Brigai, Viorica Puica and Aliona Miron were to be heard.

Interim President of the SCJ Viorica Puica was appointed on Friday 24 November as a judge at the Constitutional Court.

Subsequently, Commission No 2 will evaluate:
– Candidates for membership of the SCM who submitted their applications after 1 September 2023;
– members of the College for the selection and evaluation of judges and of the Disciplinary College of the SCM;judges in key positions (presidents and vice-presidents of courts);
– judges of the Courts of Appeal.

3. Commission 3 will evaluate:
– Candidates for the position of member of the SCP who have submitted their applications after 1 September 2023;
– prosecutors in key positions in the General Prosecutor’s Office;prosecutors from specialised prosecutors’ offices (the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS));the chief prosecutors of the territorial prosecutors’ offices and their deputies;
– members of the College for the Selection and Evaluation of Prosecutors and of the Discipline and Ethics College of the SCP.

4. Judges and prosecutors, who will not undergo the pre-vetting/vetting exercise, will be evaluated by the Colleges for the Selection and Evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors of the SCM and SCP, after their training.

The Ministry of Justice expects Commissions 2 and 3 to complete the evaluations of the subjects by the end of 2025.

The Vetting Commission informed on Tuesday, 21 November about the withdrawal of candidate Svetlana Slusarenco from the competition to fill the vacant positions of Supreme Court judge. The candidate has submitted to the Commission and to the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), as organiser of the competition, her request to withdraw from the competition.

At the same time, following the extension of the competition, the Superior Council of Magistrates submitted one more candidate to the Vetting Commission for the evaluation procedure. This is the judge of the Balti Court of Appeal, Stela Procopciuc, who was admitted as a candidate from among the judges. She will be assessed under the provisions of Law 65/2023, the rules subordinate to this law, and other legislation.

Therefore, in the context of the vetting of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Vetting Commission will carry out the evaluation of 3 judges of the Supreme Court of Justice in office and 20 candidates for the position of judge of the SCJ, remaining in the competition. The candidates include judges from different levels of courts, lawyers and prosecutors.