​PRESIDENT DODON INITIATES PROCEDURE OF DISMISSAL OF PROSECUTOR GENERAL HARUNJEN

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has announced on his Facebook page that he is starting the procedure of dismissing of Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen, namely he will challenge the results of the contest organized recently by the Superior Council of Prosecutors.

“Procedural violations took place. Eduard Harunjen had no right to apply for the Prosecutor General’s post because the law prohibits this to persons who were members of the Superior Council of Prosecutors in last 6 months before the contest. Also, the law stipulates that members of the Superior Council of Prosecutors have no right to work as rank and file prosecutors. But that rule was not ignored, and the Council members were remaining usual prosecutors and, accordingly, were remaining directly subordinate to Eduard Harunjen, who was Acting Prosecutor General all that time”, wrote the President.

Igor Dodon stressed that according to the recently adopted new legislation, the President of Moldova is directly responsible for appointing Prosecutors General.

After the presidential election, on December 7 the Superior Council of Prosecutors determined Eduard Harunjen as winner of the contest for the Prosecutor General’s post. His candidacy was the only one proposed for the contest, and was approved on the same day by then-President Nicolae Timofti.

The contest organization and holding and the approval of such Prosecutor General was strongly criticized by the opposition, including indeed by the Party of Socialists, having the largest faction in the Parliament of Moldova, and its leader Dodon until recently and now by the incumbent President. Dodon stated yet on the contest day that he did not recognize the legitimacy of such a Prosecutor General and, when President, would demand Harunjen’s dismissal and the holding of a new public and fair contest to select a legitimate candidate for the high post.

Last November, the Parliament invested the President with the authority to appoint Prosecutor General as per the amendments to the Constitution adopted by the Parliament in a first and final reading straightaway. According to the new provisions, the Prosecutor General in Moldova is appointed by the President on the proposal of the Superior Council of Prosecutors for a 7-year term of office without the right of extension. Before, the Prosecutor General used to be appointed by the Parliament on the Speaker’s proposal for a 5-year office, with a possibility of extension for another 5-year term.

With all this, neither the President nor his press service has explained how the head of state had initiated the procedure of dismissing Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen. According to the law, the President may do this only by applying to the Supreme Court of Justice. But this should have been done within not longer than 30 days from the appointment of the Prosecutor General. Within this law-stipulated timeframe, it was only ex-parliamentarian Grigore Petrenco who did this.