Experts discuss ways to strengthen independence of Moldova's judiciary at meeting organized by OSCE

CHISINAU, 27 October 2010 - Identifying ways to strengthen the independence of Moldova's judiciary is the focus of a meeting organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the Superior Council of Magistrates that began today in Chisinau. 

The two-day meeting brings together Moldovan and international experts to discuss how to implement a set of recommendations that were adopted in June 2010 by an expert group to assist participating States in strengthening the independence of their judiciaries. The recommendations are known as the "Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence", after the city where they were agreed upon under the auspices of the ODIHR and the German Max Planck Institute.

Carsten Weber, the Chief of ODIHR's Rule of Law Unit, stressed that Moldova was the first OSCE participating State to take concrete steps aimed at incorporating the recommendations in an ongoing national reform debate. Similar events are planned in other OSCE countries, he said.

Dumitru Visternicean, President of the Superior Council of Magistrates, said: "The Kyiv Recommendations are relevant and helpful as an impetus for the continuous judicial reform debate in Moldova, and I expect that this meeting will produce concrete conclusions to further strengthen our judiciary and its independence."

The President of Moldova's Supreme Court of Justice, Ion Murujanu; Constitutional Court Judge Victor Puscas and many other participants welcomed the Kyiv Recommendations and the initiative to explore possibilities for their implementation in Moldova.