Today was approved the Notice regarding the law project for the modification of article 70 of the Constitution of Moldova, which stipulates the exclusion of deputies’ immunity. This way, the prosecution can be started without the previous agreement of the Parliament.

It is revealed by the project that parliamentary immunity isn’t an absolute subjective right, the deputy being able to give up on, neither a privilege, contrary to the citizens’ equality before the law, this being a constitutional guarantee reserved for the deputy.

According to the law project, the Commission from Venice found that “the inviolability against the arrest, detaining, search and investigation in the cases in which a crime was committed is the most problematic and controversial part of the parliamentary immunity concept”. At the same time, the Commission from Venice considers that the norms that regulate the parliamentary inviolability don’t constitute a necessary part of a modern democracy.

The European Court of Human Rights states that the recognition by the state of the immunity of its parliamentarians affects the protection of fundamental rights.

Also, the Constitutional Court of Moldova positively pronounced regarding the problem of the exclusion of deputies inviolability’s exclusion.

At present, Art. 70 paragraph (3) of the Constitution of Moldova stipulates that the deputy cannot be detained, arrested, searched, exception making the cases of acting crime or sending to trial without the Parliament’s acceptance, after its hearing.