How did the hearings of the Central Court of Appeal judges unfold and how long did the longest hearing last?

During the February round of hearings, the Judicial Vetting Commission aimed to interview all judges of the Central Court of Appeal, renamed from the Chișinău Court of Appeal in December 2024. Between February 4 and 17, 17 of the 18 judges from the Central Court of Appeal, who are subject to external evaluation, participated in the hearings. The hearing of one judge was rescheduled for a later period. Additionally, a candidate for the position of judge at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) was also interviewed during this session.

The hearing of the SCJ candidate, evaluated in accordance with Law 65/2023, was conducted with the participation of all members of the Commission. In contrast, for the evaluation and hearings of the Court of Appeal judges under Law 252/2023, the six Commission members were divided into two panels of three members each, referred to as Panel A and Panel B. Each panel comprised both national and international members, ensuring balanced representation. The evaluation files were randomly distributed between the two panels.

Most hearings for the Central Court of Appeal judges were conducted before the designated panels. One judge's evaluation was initially deferred to the entire Commission due to a lack of consensus at the notification stage regarding participation in the hearing. Subsequently, three additional evaluations in which panel members failed to reach unanimity after the initial hearing were also referred to the full Commission for review. In the context of these four cases deferred to the entire Commission, additional procedural actions were initiated to clarify relevant aspects regarding the integrity of the judges involved. These actions included the hearing of third parties.

The longest hearing lasted nearly two hours, while the average duration of the hearings in this round was approximately one hour. The shortest hearing concluded after 15 minutes. Among the most discussed topics during the hearings were potential inexplicable wealth and involvement in cases that led to findings of violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to legal provisions, hearings in the evaluation process are generally held in public sessions. However, depending on the circumstances of each case, they may also be conducted in closed sessions. The hearings of twelve judges from the Central Court of Appeal and the SCJ candidate were conducted in a partially open format, in line with the closed-session requests approved by the Commission. The public portions of the hearings were published in the Commission's working languages, Romanian and English. The sections held in closed sessions were not made public to protect the privacy of the individuals involved but will be included in the respective subjects' evaluation files. All hearings conducted by the Judicial Vetting Commission can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/@vettingmd

What’s next?

Following the hearings, the Commission will draft and approve reports containing relevant facts, reasons, and proposals whether the judges pass or fail the evaluation. The evaluation results will be published, and the reports will be sent to the Superior Council of Magistracy for examination.

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