The application period for the competition for the selection of the candidate for the post of Prosecutor General ended on Wednesday 22 November. According to the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP), two files were registered in the competition.

They are the file of lawyer Ilie Rotaru and the file of prosecutor Igor Demciucin.

Ilie Rotaru is a lawyer by profession and has previously run for President, MP, Constitutional Court judge, People’s Advocate and Prosecutor General. On June 26, 2017, by a decision issued by the Chisinau Court, Buiucani seat, Rotaru was sentenced to 9 years in prison for swindling in particularly large proportions, on his name was then issued arrest warrant and he was announced in search.

Magistrates banned him from working in the field of asset and financial management for five years after he was found guilty of dispossessing a Belgian businessman of a 360-square-metre building and related land in Balti, valued at €40,000. Rotaru pleaded not guilty and claims the case was fabricated on the orders of Vladimir Plahotniuc, whom he accused in 2010 of illegally taking control of the shopping centre from him. Rotaru held a 7% stake in the trading house and for a time was a director of the company. The decision of the first court was upheld by CA Chisinau in a decision of 11 November 2019, but on 8 February 2021 the SCJ overturned the decision of CA Chisinau and decided to have the case retried by the same appeal court in a different panel. The first hearing in the retrial of the case has been set for 7 October this year.

On 30 June 2021, Rotaru filed a request to the Ministry of Justice for compensation for the damage caused by “illegal actions of the criminal investigation and preliminary investigation bodies, the prosecutor’s office and the courts”, but the request was returned on the grounds that it was signed by an unauthorised person.

Igor Demciucin began his career in 2010, when, by order of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, he was appointed as a prosecutor in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Buiucani sector, Chisinau municipality.

On August 1, 2016, he became a prosecutor in the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS).

In September 2022, the Superior Council of Prosecutors appointed him interim deputy chief prosecutor of PCCOCS.

On 16 January 2023, the High Council of Prosecutors agreed to the appointment of Igor Demciucin as Acting Deputy Prosecutor General for the duration of the mandate of the Acting Prosecutor General.

On 6 October 2023, the SCP took note of the decree signed by President Maia Sandu on the dismissal of Alexandr Stoianoglo as Prosecutor General. At the same time, the Council decided to start updating the Regulation on the election of the Prosecutor General.

According to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, the candidate for the position of Prosecutor General is selected on the basis of a public competition organised by the SCP, which includes the following stages:

• pre-selection of candidates on the basis of the files submitted;
• the interview before the Superior Council of Prosecutors.

The procedure for organising and conducting the competition is laid down in a regulation approved by the SCP. The interview stage is transmitted online in real time.

Information on the launch and conduct of the competition is published on the official websites of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the High Council of Prosecutors at least one month before the deadline for the submission of applications.

Candidates are evaluated by each member of the SCP on the basis of “criteria approved by the Council, including the professional training and skills, integrity and other personal qualities of the candidates, with the reasoning of the score awarded to each candidate”. The final score is the average score awarded by all SCP members and is published on the Council’s official website after the competition has ended. The candidate with the highest score is proposed to the President of the Republic of Moldova by the SCP for appointment as Prosecutor General.

Stoianoglo dismissed as Prosecutor General

On 26 September 2023, President Maia Sandu signed a decree dismissing the suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo. The document entered into force on the same day.

According to a press release issued by the Presidency, “given that a decision by the courts on the legality of the dismissal of Alexandr Stoianoglo by the SCP is delayed, the signing of the decree comes in the context of the European Union’s recommendations to ensure the replacement of the Prosecutor General and the obligations of the Republic of Moldova to meet the conditions of the justice system”.

Lawyers for the former prosecutor general told ZdG that the decree will be challenged in court.

Alexandr Stoianoglo was suspended from the position of prosecutor general in early October 2021, and is being investigated for passive corruption, false statements, abuse of office and exceeding the duties of his office. The case concerning the excess of power or exceeding the duties of the office is before the magistrates of the Buiucani Court of Chisinau. The last hearing in this case took place on 20 September 2023, during which a witness was heard. The next hearing is scheduled for 5 December 2023.

Former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo was detained on 5 October 2021. On 8 October 2021 he was placed under house arrest and subsequently under judicial control. No preventive measures are currently applied against Stoianoglo.