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On 19 February 2014, Promo-LEX and the Association for Efficient and Responsible Government (AGER) launched the Fourth Quarterly Report on the implementation of the Justice Sector Reform Strategy (monitoring period: 1 October – 31 December 2013).

The monitoring effort focused on two major components: assessment of implementation of actions included in the Justice Sector Reform Strategy Action Plan, and monitoring court hearings. The Report analyzed two types of actions: actions due for implementation before the end of Quarter 4 of 2013, and overdue actions, which were due before 30 September 2013.

The Report found that the implementation of the JSRS Action Plan slowed down, in Quarter 4, compared with Quarter 3 of 2013, Thus of total 257 actions due for implementation by the end of 2013, 144 were implemented, and 113 remain unfulfilled, which represents an implementation rate of 56% to 44%. More disconcerting is the fact that only 11 of 45 actions due for implementation in Quarter 4 of 2013, or only 24%, were completed, while 34 actions, or 76%, remain not implemented.

An evaluation assessment of institutions involved in the implementation of the JSRS for the first two years of the reform showed that the Ministry of Justice implemented little over 50% of actions under its responsibility. Thus, it completed 93 actions, while another 70 actions remained unfulfilled. Similar implementation rates were recorded at the NIJ, NLAC, and the Prosecutor General’s Office. The NAC and the CHRM registered higher implementation rates. NUCEO, which was responsible for one action that was not implemented, and the MOI, in charge of five actions, of which only one was implemented, registered the lowest implementation rates.

On court hearings, as shown by the questionnaires and monitors’ observations, the dynamic of satisfaction of court users with the way justice was administered in courtrooms remained constant. Data obtained in Quarter 4 of 2013 compared with the previous Quarters show a positive trend of maintaining a high percentage of respondents completely satisfied with the administration of justice.

The highest rates of dissatisfaction among respondents referred to courthouse facilities, indicators to and inside the courthouse, and the use of court websites. Thus, 14%, 22% and 8% of lawyers, respectively, said they were dissatisfied with the aspects listed above.

As regard the highest satisfaction rates, 71% of lawyers said they were completely satisfied with the availability of the case file and the time allotted between the summoning and the court hearing, and 73% said they were satisfied with the public character of the hearing.

In addition to the standardized questionnaire, distributed to participants in court hearings to assess the effectiveness of the act of justice, trial, another set of questions was developed as part of the monitoring effort to analyze the respondents’ perception of the positive changes, which occurred over the course of the last two years, during the implementation of the reform. Thus, 208 judges, prosecutors, lawyers, courts enforcement officers and court clerks filled in this additional questionnaire, sharing their opinions on the fairness and transparency of the procedure of selection, appointment and promotion of judges, funding of the judiciary system, independence of the prosecution and exercising their powers, and other subjects.

The electronic version of the Report is available on www.promolex.md and www.monitor.md.

This Report was developed as part of the project: “Monitoring the Justice Sector Reform Strategy to Increase Government Responsibility”, implemented by the Promo-LEX Association and the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, with the financial support of the European Union.The project is co-funded by the East European Foundation from financial resources offered by the Swedish Government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark/DANIDA.

For details, please contact: Carolina Bondarciuc, Promo-LEX Press Officer, at: GSM 069637849,
Tel/Fax (+373 22) 450024, and email: [email protected]