PROGRAMME OF CO-ORDINATED SUPPORT FOR NEWLY ADMITTED CSCE STATES FACT-FINDING MISSION: ILASCU GROUP CRIMINAL CASE, TIRASPOL AND CHI_IN_U, MOLDOVA 22 - 27 NOVEMBER 1993 Upon the request of the Moldovan government and under the Programme of Co-ordinated Support, the ODIHR sent Dr. Andrzej Rzeplinski, Professor of Criminal Law at Warsaw University and a leading authority on criminal and constitutional law, to attend the trial of the "Ilascu Group." Prof. Rzeplinski visited Moldova from November 22 -27 1993 as well as Tiraspol, capital of the self-designated Transdniestrian Republic, where the trial was held, and where I. Ilascu received a death sentence and his compatriots severe prison terms. Although this was a highly-charged political trial, the ODIHR's focus is on its legal aspects, essentially the question: was due process of law observed? The unequivocal answer is that due process of law was violated consistently from the investigative process through the actual trial and that a new trial should be held and the defendants provided with adequate counsel either in Moldova or in another country where proper judicial norms can be observed. Possibilities include either holding the trial in a country like Switzerland, Poland, Sweden or Germany, or bringing high court judges from countries familiar with Soviet-era criminal law, such as Latvia, Lithuania, or Belarus to Moldova to conduct a new trial. The legal issues in this case are numerous, including the constitutionality and juridical competency of the Tiraspol court, adequacy of defence counsel, prosecutorial tactics, including alleged beatings and drugging of defendants to elicit confessions, ex post facto application of laws in a criminal proceeding, and use of a judge whose spouse headed the investigation team, and who had left Moldova for Tiraspol when Moldova instituted a requirement that all government officials demonstrate competency in the Moldovan language, as opposed to Russian. One of the many discrepancies in this case is the defendants were tried as terrorists under the Soviet penal code at a time in 1992 when the Soviet Union no longer existed. The ODIHR is actively pursuing the possibilities of a new trial with appropriate authorities in Tiraspol and Chisinau, and with the Council of Europe and other international bodies and NGOs who have evinced an interest in the outcome of this case. CSCE ODIHR BULLETIN Vol. 2, No. 1 52