FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG THE PRE-VETTING PHASES: THE UNSEEN FACE OF JUSTICE REFORM to resign by the ESC, the country’s leading politicians have called the SCJ magistrates corrupt and their judgements illegal. CASE STUDY 43. Prime Minister Dorin Recean, Chair of the Parliamentary Legal Commitee Olesea Stamate, and Moldovan President Maia Sandu accuse magistrates of annulling the decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commission and promise to clean up the judiciary Unimedia.md, 2 August 2022,(video) Recean to the SCJ: I’m saying to the corrupt minority in the judicial sector that it did not surprise us. You will not be able to resist efforts of self-cleansing 255 Prime Minister Dorin Recean has issued a warning to the judges of the SCJ, who participated in the annulment of some decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commission. The Chair of the Committee for Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunities, Olesea Stamate, came out with a comment after the SCJ upheld the appeals of several judges and prosecutors who failed the pre-vetting evaluation.“We are witnessing yet another at­tempt by corrupt groups in the system to block the extraordinary eval­uation. They did not thoroughly examine to see whether some really deserve to be returned for evaluation or not. It is about“Après moi, le deluge”, Stamate said. ZdG.md, 9 August 2022,“Rampant and almost xeroxed deci­sions of the SCJ to annul the decisions of the Commission for External Evaluation of Judges’ Integrity are illegal”. President Maia Sandu on the decisions of the SCJ on the candidates for members of the SCM and the SCP and what’s next in the jus­tice reform 256 “The rampant and almost xeroxed decisions of the SCJ to annul the de­cisions of the Commission for External Evaluation of Judges’ Integrity are illegal. We are seeing yet another attempt by the system to jeop­ardize the justice reform and efforts to remove corrupt people from the system. These decisions once again confirm that the system does not want to clean itself from the inside and that our approach of external evaluation is correct. This is not to say that there are no honest people in the system, but, as far as we can see, very few of them are involved in this effort to clean up the justice system. This is not the first obstacle that corrupt judges create, and it will probably not be the last. But de­spite these obstacles, the reform is moving forward. The Extraordinary External Evaluation Commission will continue its work and will remove from the system judges and prosecutors who cannot prove their integ­rity,” said President Sandu, referring to these court decisions. “The crisis in the justice system will continue until we get the system in order. The fight we are engaged in is a fight for survival. It is about our survival as a democratic state with a future in the European Union, which can only be achieved by reforming justice and reducing corrup­tion. On the other side of the barricade are the corrupt judges and pros­ecutors who have reaped undeserved benefits all these years and who are clinging to the rotten system they have built because they fear that they will otherwise have to answer for their abuses. They have become rich and untouchable through injustice, and their aim is to continue just that. They are supported by other individuals who want to perpet­uate corruption – criminal groups, politicians who promise to cancel the reforms if they compromise the changes in the judiciary and the current Government,” Maia Sandu said in the interview for the ZdG. During the resumed proceeding before the Pre-Vetting Commission, the evaluation was successfully passed by only one candidate, at the level of the SCJ – magistrate Aliona Miron –, who was appointed as a member of the SCM at the GAJ of 30 March 2024. However, by virtue of the aggressive political discourse to­wards the SCM magistrates, the judicial inspectorate of the newly formed SCM has taken the matter into its own hands, initiating disciplinary proceedings against them. CASE STUDY 44. Magistrates who annulled the decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commission, triggering disciplinary proceedings ZdG.md, 19 January 2024, The three magistrates who over­turned the unfavourable decisions of the Pre-Vetting Com­mission, two of whom have resigned, could be disciplinarily sanctioned 257 “Judges of the SCJ Tamara Chisca-Doneva, Mariana Pitic, and Ion Guzun could be disciplined in the context of the decisions taken in early August 2023, which annulled 21 decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commissionof fail­ing the integrity evaluation of candidates for the position of member of the SCM and the SCP. According to the acting Chair of the SCM, Sergiu Caraman, the Judicial In­spection of the Council, which has taken note, has found irregularities in the work of the three judges. “At the moment, the case is before the Disciplinary Board, because the in­spector-judge has asked to sanction the judges,” Caraman said in a TV show. Contacted by the ZdG, the acting Chair of the SCM said that the Judicial In­spection has drawn up a report, which was sent to the Disciplinary Board with a proposal for sanction. “It is up to the Disciplinary Board to give a solution– guilty or not guilty– and to apply the disciplinary sanction as the case may be.” Should the Disciplinary Board find violations, Tamara Chisca-Doneva and Ion Guzun, the magistrates who resigned less than a month after the con­troversial judgements were handed down, would not suffer from the sanc­tions unless they tried to return to the judiciary. Magistrate Mariana Pitic continues to serve at the SCJ. She has applied to keep her position as a judge of the SCJ and is now being evaluated by the Vetting Commission.” Interim President of the SCJ Tamara Chisca-Doneva, being notified about the initiation of the evaluation of the SCJ judges, submitted her resignation starting from a later date. The SCM accepted her resignation immediately, which was equivalent to her dismissal from the system. CASE STUDY 45. SCM, premature acceptance of the resignation of the Interim President of the SCJ, Tamara Chisca-Doneva Unimedia.md, 25 August 2023, Breaking news! Interim Presi­dent of the SCJ, Tamara Chișca-Doneva, dismissed from today, al­255 https://unimedia.info/ro/news/49dcec2d8b90bbdb/video-recean-catre-csj-le-spun-la-minoritatea-corupta-din-tagma-judecatorilor-ca-nu-ne-a-sur­prins-nu-veti-reusi-sa-rezistati-eforturilor-de-autocuratare.html 256 https://www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-justitie/deciziile-pe-banda-rulanta-si-aproape-trase-la-indigo-ale-csj-de-anulare-a-hotararilor-comisiei-de-evaluare-ex­terna-a-integritatii-judecatorilor-sunt-ilegale-presedinta-maia-sandu-d/ 257 https://www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-justitie/cei-trei-magistrati-care-au-anulate-deciziile-de-nepromovare-emise-de-comisia-pre-vetting-dintre-ca­re-doi-si-au-dat-demisia-ar-putea-fi-sanctionati-diciplinar/ 92