On Thursday, July 27, 2023, candidates to the positions of judge and prosecutor presented their work in the annual report competition held at the National Institute of Justice in order to develop the analytical and argumentative skills of the trainees on pressing issues in the justice sector in the Republic of Moldova.
The 9th edition of this year's competition was dedicated to justice reform and included 11 themes in the field of “(Pre)Vetting in the Republic of Moldova. Challenges and solutions”. In their reports, the future judges and prosecutors addressed issues regarding the ethical and financial integrity criteria of judges and prosecutors, the assessment of the credibility of the pre-vetting process in the Republic of Moldova, the independence and impartiality of the Pre-Vetting/Vetting Commission, the impact of the extraordinary evaluation process in our country, the guarantees of candidates in the pre-vetting process, as well as of judges and prosecutors in the vetting process, the limits of the freedom of expression of judges and prosecutors in the "age of digitization", the role of the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the international normative framework in the pre-vetting and vetting process in the Republic of Moldova and others.
The performance of the trainees was assessed by the members of the jury formed by Stanislav Copetchi, State Secretary from the Ministry of Justice, Angela Motuzoc, President of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, Ion Guzun, member of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, Mihaela Vidaicu, Director of ABA ROLI, and Olga Rabei-Secrieru, legal programs specialist in the Justice and Law Enforcement Section of the US State Department. Appreciating the works, the jury was guided by several criteria including: scientific novelty and the originality of the form of presentation; problematization, argumentation and the use of appropriate legal language; description of the situation in the field of research and substantiation of proposals for lex ferenda and/or other solutions to improve the identified problems, etc.
The winners of this year's edition were: from the group of future prosecutors, Doina-Cezara Galan and Cristina Gnatiuc - 1st place, Ion Rusu - 2nd place, Diana Morari and Sergiu Morari - 3rd place; and from the group of future judges, Dan Barbacaru and Elena Fortuna - 1st place, Daniela Devder and Constantin Cogalniceanu - 2nd place, Serghei Plesca - 3rd place.
The winners will benefit from internships at specialized courts or prosecutor's offices in Romania due to the project ”Strengthening the institutional capacity of the National Institute of Justice of the Republic of Moldova”, implemented by the National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Magistracy and International Development Cooperation Agency ( RoAid ).
