Law for interpretation of article 7 from Amnesty Law published in Official Journal of Moldova

The law for interpreting Article 7 from the Amnesty Law regarding the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of Moldova’s Independence, adopted in 2021, was published in the Official Journal today.

On April 4, the parliament voted, in two readings, the law project for interpreting Article 7 from the Amnesty Law related to the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of Moldova’s Independence, adopted in 2021.

According to it, individuals sentenced to life imprisonment will not be able to simultaneously benefit from sentence commutation through amnesty and conditional release.

Thus, a convicted person whose sentence has been reduced or commuted will not be able to be released conditionally before term. These provisions will apply even to those convicted who have had their sentences reduced or commuted based on the Amnesty Law regarding the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of Moldova’s Independence and were subsequently released before term. More specifically, the effects of the draft law on interpretation will also apply to those who have already benefited from erroneous pre-emption of the norms subject to interpretation.

Also, at the 4 April plenary meeting, the MPs voted in the first reading a draft law meant to ensure the correct and efficient enforcement of the Criminal Code provisions, the Amnesty Law regarding the 30th anniversary of the Independence and the Criminal Procedure Code.

The draft law aims to achieve the correct and uniform enforcement of the criminal law and the act of amnesty without deficiencies. It also seeks to establish a new mechanism for the coming into force of judicial conclusions delivered on certain cases, in order to make them enforceable after the expiration of the appeal term or after these conclusions pass two levels of jurisdiction. Thus, a person serving a life sentence may be conditionally released before term only if he/she has effectively served at least 30 years in prison, without considering the privileged compensation of workdays. At the same time, the replacement of the unserved part of the sentence by a milder one will not be applicable to those serving life imprisonment.

Amendments are also proposed to the Amnesty Law regarding the 30th anniversary of Independence to prevent the commutation of penalties to life imprisonment based on this law, but only allow for conditional release before term for these convicts.

The legislative amendments will come into force on the date of publication in the Official Journal. The provisions will apply even to those individuals for whom extrajudicial and judicial procedures for conditional release before term or replacement of the unserved part of the sentence with a milder one, related to the 30th-anniversary Amnesty Law, have already been initiated.