When back in Chisinau I wanted to spend more time observing court proceedings. I returned to the courthouse in the City Center where I had observed criminal proceedings in December. During this return visit I was able to observe criminal and civil proceedings in the judge's chambers.
As in the U.S., the Moldovan Constitution guarantees that counsel will be provided in criminal cases. (In minor cases the defendant can waive the right; if he/she will go to jail for more than 5 years, then he/she must have a lawyer represent him/her.) One of the cases we observed was postponed because the newly lawyer appointed to represent the defendant (in a drunk driving case) needed to become familiar with the materials.
I observed a civil case in which 2 young women who were suing for damages because of the way they were treated at a cafe. In addition to the parties (the 2 young women were representing themselves; the cafe was represented by an attorney) there was a representative from an agency to protect consumer rights at the hearing as well. The claim of the young women seemed frivolous to me, but the judge gave them the opportunity to voice their concerns (and also extended the timeframe for the case so that their witnesses could be called to testify) -- perhaps to avoid being reversed by a higher court? Much of the proceedings were in Russian. (Romanian is the state language, but, the court is obliged to provide an attorney of the the parties can't understand the proceedings. In other words, Russian translators would be provided. In this case the judge was able to save time and money, because she and all the others in the room could also understand Russian.)
In these photos you can see the cases posted for argument
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