The Chairperson of the Pre-Vetting Commission, Herman von Hebel, participated alongside key stakeholders in the justice sector, national and international experts, as well as representatives of the civil society and development partners of the Republic of Moldova, in the Forum on Justice Reform and Fight Against Corruption, held in Chișinău on 15-16 September 2022.
At the panel on the external evaluation of judges and prosecutors and on the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice, Herman von Hebel spoke about the complexity and importance of the pre-vetting process as an essential and pivotal element in the successful implementation of the justice sector reform; he detailed the actions undertaken by the Commission in this regard, and mentioned when the hearings of candidates for the position of members of the Superior Council of Magistracy are to begin.
At the beginning of his speech, Herman von Hebel said that it was an honor and a great responsibility for all the members of the Commission – both international and national – to participate in the evaluation of judges and prosecutors, underscoring how important it is to have a quality process, so that the justice system in the Republic of Moldova could be sanitized and reset.
As regards the pre-vetting journey so far, the Chairperson of the Commission underscored the huge amount of information that the team of analysts has to go through: “The more than 20 public and private institutions that we collaborate with were extremely generous in sharing with us information regarding the candidates. Therefore, the Commission is under pressure, in a good way. We are currently in the midst of an extensive process in which the information collected on the 25 candidates for members in the Superior Council of Magistracy is being thoroughly analyzed through the lens of financial and ethical integrity, alongside the answers to over 850 questions of clarification and 300 additional requests for information sent to the candidates.” Despite the large amount of information to be seeped through and organized, Herman von Hebel said that in a few weeks the members of the Pre-vetting Commission will start deliberating and will hold the first public hearings of candidates for the position of members in the Superior Council of Magistracy.
The Chairperson of the Commission emphasized that the pre-vetting experience was new, first of this kind, requiring constant and consistent planning. It is paramount for it to be appropriate and of high quality, given that the expectations around the pre-vetting process are all the higher because of the low level of trust that Moldovan citizens have in the justice system of the Republic of Moldova.
