Amnesty law reaches Constitutional Court. General Prosecutor seeks annulment of life sentence release amendments
Prosecutor General of Moldova Ion Munteanu has notified the Constitutional Court to examine the constitutionality of Law No. 243/2021 on Amnesty, in the context of the 30th anniversary of independence. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), the referral addresses, in particular, the removal of the condition concerning the absence of a risk of recidivism for those sentenced to life imprisonment, aiming to commute the sentence to 30 years in prison.
This referral specifically targets two articles of laws adopted in 2022—Article 2 of Law No. 247/2022 and Article 7 of Law No. 316/2022. These articles amended the 2021 Amnesty Law, which allowed certain individuals sentenced to life imprisonment to receive a reduction in their sentences.
According to the General Prosecutor, the amendments made in 2022 weakened the criteria required for converting a life sentence into a 30-year sentence. Notably, the condition that a person must not pose a risk of recidivism—meaning they should not be dangerous or likely to commit another crime—was removed.
Furthermore, Ion Munteanu points out that these amendments were adopted in a non-transparent manner. They were introduced in the final stages of voting in Parliament, within unrelated draft laws, without any public debates or necessary opinions. In his view, this lack of transparency undermines public trust in the law and the justice system.
Therefore, the Prosecutor General is asking the Constitutional Court to suspend the enforcement of the contested provisions until the case is examined in detail and to determine the unconstitutionality of these provisions due to violations of constitutional and procedural principles.
Since the amendments came into effect, nine individuals sentenced to life imprisonment have been released. Among those released are two notorious criminals, Alexandru Sinigur, known as "Синий," and Iurie Radulov, known as "Бабёр." Both had convictions for murder and serious crimes in the Republic of Moldova and abroad. Sinigur was recently detained by authorities on suspicion of another crime, while Radulov has managed to flee the country.
In response to these developments, Parliament has voted to amend the Amnesty Law further. According to the new draft, individuals sentenced to life imprisonment will not be allowed to benefit from both commutation of their sentences through amnesty and conditional release simultaneously.
