European Court of Human Rights and the Moldovan judicial system

On Wednesday I attended a presentation by Dag Brathole, a judge from Norway, who discussed the "European Commission for Human Rights and how the European judicial precedents change the work method in the Moldovan judicial system." The presentation was in English with simultaneous translation into Romanian. The event was organized by ULIM in cooperation with the Norwegian Mission Rule of Law in Moldova (NORLAM)

The judge discussed a few examples (of the estimated 150 violations) where Moldovan criminal procedure is in violation of the European Convention as decided by the European Court of Human Rights. For example, Moldovan prosecutors may pick and choose evidence to present during a pre-trial hearing (disregarding exculpatory evidence)

Per capita, Moldova has the 2nd highest number of complaints filed before the Court. (Georgia has the highest)

Under the Moldovan system, judges are bound by European law and precedents of the European Court of Human Rights -- but NOT bound by precedents of the Moldova Supreme Court. The speaker predicted that this situation is not sustainable and that within the next 10 years that Moldovan judicial system will abide by principles of stare decisis and precedents -- caselaw -- developed by the Moldovan Supreme Court.