Table 6: Ratio of judges to courtrooms in district courthouses located in Chişinău43 District Courts of Chişinău (Entire monitoring period: April 2006 – November 2008) Number of judges (excluding investigating judges) Number of court rooms in the courthouse Hearings held in courtrooms Hearings held in judges’ offices Number of hearings monitored Botanica District Court 16 Buiucani District Court 17 Centru District Court 15 Ciocana District Court 12 Rîşcani District Court 17 3 243 1 2 3 21% 29% 10% 37% 22% 79% 71% 90% 63% 78% 786 1,121 1,716 672 1,224 Table 7: Ratio of judges to courtrooms in courthouses in the Southeast Courts in the Southeast (Entire monitoring period: September 2007 – November 2008) Number of judges (excluding investigating judges) Number of court rooms in the courthouse Hearings held in courtrooms Hearings held in judges’ offices Number of hearings monitored Bender Court of Appeals 4 Anenii Noi District Court Căuşeni District Court Ştefan Vodă District Court 5 6 3 1 2 2 2 85% 2% 91% 9% 38% 62% 97% 3% 48 189 98 30 As indicated in the above tables, the �������������������������������������������������������������� situation is significantly better in the Southeast, where in 2007-2008 the ratios of judges to courtrooms were as follows: Anenii Noi 5:2, Căuşeni 6:2, Ştefan Vodă 3:2 and Bender Court of Appeals 4:1. The percentage of hearings held in courtrooms is significantly higher in the Anenii Noi and Ştefan Vodă District Courts, indicating that a lack of a sufficient number of courtrooms in other District Courts, especially in Chişinău, may be one of the impediments to holding trials in the courtrooms ������������ and thereby allowing free and effective access to hearings by the public. 43 At the beginning of the Trial Monitoring Programme in 2006 there were 3 courtrooms at Buiucani district court. In 2008, this courthouse was reorganized and one courtroom was transformed into an archive room. At publication of the present Final Report, this courthouse has 2 courtrooms. 28