{"id":1799,"date":"2019-10-14T00:51:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T22:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zdg.md\/eng\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2019-10-14T00:51:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T22:51:42","slug":"prosecutor-tried-for-knowingly-condemning-an-innocent-person-is-acquitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/prosecutor-tried-for-knowingly-condemning-an-innocent-person-is-acquitted\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutor Tried for Knowingly Condemning an Innocent Person Is Acquitted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Chi\u0219in\u0103u Court has acquitted a prosecutor who stood trial in August 2017 for knowingly condemning an innocent person. A policeman previously convicted for the falsification of procedural documents in the same case was also acquitted. The acquittal was finally delivered on October 7, 2019, after the judge responsible for the case postponed the sentencing hearing on multiple occasions last year, in order to conduct a judicial inquiry. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen announced the opening of a criminal case against prosecutor Lilian Cociu after he condemned an innocent person in 2007. But despite Harunjen previously declaring that the evidence gathered was sufficient for Cociu\u2019s indictment, both the prosecutor and the policeman involved in the case were acquitted on October 7, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ZdG provides details on the case and how it was handled under the former and the current government.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An innocent man who served five years in prison<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, prosecutor Lilian Cociu oversaw a case involving a murder and an attempted murder near the Chi\u0219in\u0103u suburb of Durle\u0219ti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cociu accused Andrei Cr\u0103ciun of murder and attempted murder in the case and subsequently remitted the criminal case regarding him to the court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cr\u0103ciun was convicted for committing a criminal offense and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, having served more than five years in detention, Cr\u0103ciun was acquitted and released, because it was established that he had not committed the crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrei Cr\u0103ciun then took his case to a civil court, where he received compensation for the moral damage of illegal detention amounting to around 77,000 euros (1.5 million lei), paid out of the state budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2017, after a meeting of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, then Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen, announced a criminal case against prosecutor Lilian Cociu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started the criminal case in the summer of 2016, and the evidence we have accumulated so far allows us to place the person under indictment. The prosecutor in question investigated the case of the murder in Durle\u0219ti and through his actions illegally accused an innocent person and sent him to prison for more than five and a half years,\u201d<\/em> Harunjen said.
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