Third non-judge candidate excluded from SCM race
The Pre-Vetting Commission announces that Ștefan Belecciu, a non-judge candidate proposed by the Parliament for the position of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy, has not passed the evaluation. The decision will not be published, at the candidate's request, but has been forwarded to him and to Parliament.
Ștefan Belecciu is a professor at the Law Department of the "Stefan cel Mare" Academy of the Ministry of the Interior.
To date, three non-judge candidates have passed the Pre-Vetting Commission's evaluation for the position of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy: Ion Guzun, Tatiana Ceaglic and Alexandru Postica. Two other candidates - former judge Tatiana Chiriac and lawyer Alexandru Rotari - are awaiting the Commission's decisions in the coming days.
The three civil society candidates who passed the pre-vetting (Tatiana Ciaglic, Alexandru Postica and Ion Guzun) were heard on 27 March by the Committee on Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunities. According to Parliament's President Igor Grosu, they will be appointed at the plenary session on 30 March.
According to the law, the new SCM must be composed of 12 members: six magistrates, elected at the General Assembly of Judges, and six representatives of civil society, appointed by Parliament. On 3 April, applications for resignation from the SCM by judges Anatolie Galben, Victor Micu, Luiza Gafton and Petru Moraru will come into force. The only SCM judge who has not resigned is Nina Cernat from the Chisinau Court of Appeal. Thus, if Parliament appoints the three non-judges, there will be four members in the SCM after 3 April.
President Maia Sandu asked Parliament on 20 March to form a functional SCM for 30 days, after convening the Supreme Security Council in connection with the "exceptional situation in the judiciary" created after the General Assembly of Judges postponed for more than a month, on 17 March, the election of new members of the SCM from among magistrates. The main reason given at the assembly was that the SJC had failed to examine the appeals of candidates who had not passed pre-vetting. Out of 23 magistrates who applied, only five were given the green light.
