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acoustics in the courtrooms, �� lack of order�� , several people speaking simultaneously, people whispering to each other, and judges or parties not speaking loudly enough.47 Monitors observed the questionable practice of appointing �� legal aid lawyers shortly before hearings in the Chişinău Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Justice. This practice gravely affects the quality of defence. This issue is described in more detail in the section below on the right to legal assistance. Monitors noted in all courts monitored that the solemnity of court proceedings was adversely affected by the behaviour of all categories of trial participants. Participants often spoke on mobile phones during the hearings, read and sent text messages, or made inappropriate jokes or comments. This appeared to be an accepted practice, given that monitors rarely noted judge�� s�� admonishing �� participants for �� such behaviour. In addition to the negative effect o�� n individual cases, �� the�� atmosphere negatively affects the public’s and parties’ perception of the judicial system. (See the following section for additional details regarding questionable behaviour by trial participants.) 2.4. Professional Performance of Participants (Judges, Prosecutors and Defence Lawyers) The principal �� participant�� s in a Moldovan criminal trial are: the judge who presides over proceedings and ensures that �� justice �� is done; the prosecutor who represents the state; the defence lawyer who represents the defendant; the court clerk who makes the official record of the case; and the interpreter or translator48 who translates the proceedings and the key documents �� when�� all parties do not know the state language or the language of the proceedings. This chapter highlights the main issues and trends identified in relation to the performance of these �� participant�� s. �� Official�� s have a direct responsibility to the court and�� their conduct influences the conduct of the lay participants. Monitors noted many instances in which some official�� s did�� not act in a professional manner. Participant�� s in all categories exhibited a lack of punctuality�� , as outlined above�� . Monitors noted one common observation about all�� categories of�� officials:�� a lack of full concentration and attention to the current hearing. Monitors noted participants (judges, prosecutors, lawyers, court clerks and interpreters) talking to each other during hearings. �� M�� ost frequent�� ly,� prosecutors or defence lawyers whisper�� ed�� or joke�� d �� with the court clerk, s�� poke�� on mobile phones, wr�� ote �� and read text messages or play�� ed�� games on mobile phones; the latter practice was most often noted �� for�� defence lawyers. Judges answered and made calls from land line phones during proceedings. All such behaviour denotes a lack of respect towards the court proceedings and sends an inappropriate message to the participants. While many other problems highlighted in this report require significant financial investments, changing such behaviour does not cost any money. It is troublesome that such behaviour appears acceptable. This behaviour was noted in all courts in Chişinău and in the Southeast. Only in exceptional cases did judges react and reprimand parties for such behaviour. 47 �� A particular problem in the Bender Court of Appeals is that the president speaks very quietly and the participants have great difficulty in hearing what he says. 48 �� The present report further refers only to interpreters. Given the scope of the Trial Monitoring Programme, monitors could only observe the performance of interpreters without reviewing case files. Therefore, monitors were not able to evaluate�� the performance of translators. 36

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ODIHR (2010) Trial Monitoring Programme for the Republic of Moldova: Final Report

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Name of the author: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/9/c/70945.pdf

Country

Europe: Moldova

Theme

Procedural safeguards: Procedural safeguards - general

Language: English

Source

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Document Type

Report: Thematic Report

Year

2010

Primary Documents

70945.pdf
English
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Atlas of Torture

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ODIHR (2010) Trial Monitoring Programme for the Republic of Moldova: Final Report

Primary Documents

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