About 25 judges and prosecutors participated in a specialised training workshop on investigating and examining illegal funding of political parties and electoral campaigns. The one-day training session, held at the National Institute of Justice, covered critical topics such as the legal framework for political financing, methods for investigating electoral violations, and exploration of current practices in electoral corruption and vote buying.

Falk LANGE, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, expressed his satisfaction with the ongoing collaboration among key national partners. „The subject matter of this seminar is extremely useful and will help judges, prosecutors and other professionals to better investigate financial violations that unfortunately occur not only during election periods but also between elections - such as the illegal political financing”, said Falk LANGE.

Veronica DRAGALIN, Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office,  highlighted the importance of discussing cases of illegal financing and electoral corruption and described these cases as „sensitive”.

„It's a sensitive topic, because there are some very obvious crimes, where all of society agrees on what the punishment should be. When it's a murder, it's a black and white case, and it's clear that the person who did it has to be held accountable. But when we talk about corruption in an electoral context, it's a much more sensitive issue. It is important to discuss all the specifics, and this seminar is a great opportunity to do so. I hope we all learn things that we can apply in concrete cases”, said Veronica DRAGALIN.

The Council of Europe consultant, the National Institue of Justice trainer and a vice-president of the Central Electoral Commission shared proeminent current cases and methods from Moldova, as well as  relevant ECtHR case law and various experiences of some European states (Lithuania, Finland and Romania).

The training was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe Project Improving Electoral Practice in the Republic of Moldova, Phase III, in partnership with the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, the National Institute of Justice.