First shot in the Roșca file

October 8, at the Court of Appeal of Comrat, the panel of judges composed by Grigori Colev as president, Ștefan Starciuc and Marina Galupa examined the request sent by me, Iurie Roșca, and Iulian Rusanovschi, my lawyer, against the closing of the investigating judge which confirmed  prosecutor Mihail Ivanov’s decree of seizing the sum of 11 thousand euros, taken on February 28 during the search conducted at the headquarters of the Foundation for Christian Democracy by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.

During his monologue, lawyer Rusanovschi exposed in great detail all of the abuses and illegal actions committed by prosecutor Ivanov, who did not have any right to impose such a measure, all the more so as the money belonged to individuals that are not involved in any way in this file. The defendant has also shown that the complaints filed against prosecutor Ivanov on April 18 by the four individuals who had their money taken illegally from the institution where they work were ignored, as they have not received any response from Ivanov. The same situation occured when the same four individuals adressed the superior prosecutor Viorel Morari, head of the Anticorruption Prosecution Unit, on May 4, being left again with no reply.

On May third, the investigating judge Andrei Niculcea from the Chișinău Courthouse (Buiucani headquarters) releases the conclusion which authorises the seizing of the sum of money, being unaware of the complaints filed by the four individuals because they were not shown by the prosecutor. Both me and the four people involved were not aware of this court decision, as it was released in our absence.

The series of strong procedural arguments which were presented during the court hearing in Comrat were completely ignored by the judges. Lawyer Iulian Rusanovschi addressed prosecutor Mihail Ivanov a number of questions, in total conformity with the law, which he refused to answer and the court did not pressure him to respect the judicial norms. The panel of judges rejected the hearing of the four people which were present at the hearing and were ready to testify.

Then came the decision which did not shock anyone. The Court of Appeal of Comrat rejected our request, confirming the conclusion of the investigation judge from before.

Personally, I was left with the impression that the lawyer’s perfectly argued monologues, as well as the details I mentioned during the hearing, did not raise any interest to the three judges. The prosecutor did not need to make any effort to hold his position. Everything was decided long before.

Obviously, as it is well known how independent our justice system is under the current regime, it would have been naive to expect a fair trial. As it is also evident the fact that the beginning of the prosecution itself did not start without the agreement or even the order given by those who control all of Moldova’s institutions.

In a few weeks, another examination of another request of ours at the same Court of Appeal of Comrat will follow, in which we demand the annulment of another judicial decision which seeks to seize a property belonging to the Foundation for Christian Democracy, which again has no tie to my file.

And on November 12, at the Chișinău Courthouse of Buiucani, the examination of the Roșca dossier will continue.

It looks like the case will be a long one. I would like to add once more that even though I am perfectly aware of the small chances of success, I will continue to plea my innocence and I have no intention of avoiding the case or running away.

Iurie Roșca,