Moldovan President on Amnesty Law

President Maia Sandu commented today on the situation regarding the Amnesty Law. She said "the amendments are what created risks and vulnerabilities," and currently, law enforcement bodies are investigating "how they occurred".


"From the analyses we've been able to conduct so far, the amendments are what created risks and vulnerabilities. These are vulnerabilities that have been exploited by different people within the system. Now, a thorough investigation must be completed concerning those who committed these abuses, referring to the judiciary and those in the penitentiary system. It will be examined who and why these matters occurred," Maia Sandu said.


The official emphasized that responsible institutions need to analyze why the law was modified and the specific amendments were proposed.


"It is important to know why a risk analysis was not conducted because we all know they are. Justice is still not fully reformed. We are aware that in the National Penitentiary Administration, there are still cases where people do not properly fulfill their responsibilities," Maia Sandu said.


The head of state spoke about the actions taken by state institutions to stop the effects of the Amnesty Law, passed in 2021, which eventually allowed the release of some dangerous prisoners.


"Parliament adopted an interpretative law, and the Constitutional Court suspended all these processes. We've also seen decisions from higher courts that annulled the court's rulings that released these individuals. We must complete the analyses, and in the meantime, state institutions are doing everything for the safety of citizens," Maia Sandu added.


On 4 April Parliament voted in two readings a bill aimed at clarifying the application of articles 91 and 92 of the Criminal Code in the context of the amnesty. According to the new interpretation, individuals whose life imprisonment sentences were commuted to a prison sentence will no longer be eligible for early conditional release.

The proposed changes aim to eliminate the possibility of the same person benefiting simultaneously from sentence commutation and early conditional release. The bill sees that this clarification will apply to those who have already been conditionally released.

In the context of the application of the Amnesty Law, the head of the National Penitentiary Administration, Anatolie Falcă, resigned. The decision was made at the end of last week at the request of Prime Minister Dorin Recean.