Judges' evaluation commission of Moldova has new leadership

The Judges' Evaluation Commission has a new leadership team. Following the unanimous vote of the nine members, Andrei Bivol, a national member and previously the vice president of the Commission, was elected as the president. He appointed Marcel van de Wetering, a international member of the Commission, as vice president.

This change comes in the context of Scott Bales' withdrawal from the position of president and a planned internal reorganization aimed at ensuring the continuity of activities and the smooth conduct of the ongoing evaluation processes.

Andrei Bivol is a lawyer with over 15 years of experience in the legal field. He has represented clients in over 150 civil, commercial and administrative disputes at all levels of jurisdiction in Moldova and in more than 40 cases before the European Court of Human Rights. He has also participated in international arbitrations, representing public and private entities before such institutions as the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and the European Court of Arbitration.

Marcel van de Wetering, a citizen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is a senior judge at the District Court of Zeeland West Brabant. With over 20 years of experience in the Dutch judiciary, he has worked in both criminal and civil fields, holding positions as an investigating judge and coordinating legal advisor in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. He holds a law degree from Utrecht University and is the author of legal commentaries on the Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure.

The new management team will ensure the efficient coordination of the Judges' Evaluation Commission's activities, in the spirit of transparency, integrity and impartiality, that underpin the magistrates’ external evaluation process.