Foreign citizens with criminal records will no longer be able to use legal loopholes to avoid extradition and escape criminal responsibility in Moldova. A draft law aimed at addressing the problems identified during the evaluation of extradition procedures involving asylum applications has been approved in its first reading by 59 deputies.
According to the authors, the legislative changes are necessary because the current detention periods for individuals awaiting extradition and the deadlines for issuing a final decision on asylum requests do not align. As a result, it is impossible to ensure the detention of the extraditable person until their handover to the requesting state, and criminals exploit this situation.
In this context, the authors propose extending the maximum detention period for individuals awaiting extradition from 180 days to 12 months. They also plan to amend the Law on Asylum in Moldova to include a new category of applications that authorities must review quickly. This new category will cover applications from individuals facing extradition proceedings. These changes aim to shorten the review period for asylum applications from these individuals.
The authors also propose modifying the review deadlines and appeal processes for court decisions on challenges to decisions made by the General Inspectorate for Migration. They suggest that individuals can appeal a rejection of their asylum application directly to the administrative court, without prior procedures, within five working days from the notification date. They also recommend that the court’s decision to uphold or overturn the asylum rejection can be appealed to the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal’s ruling will be final. Note that these changes will apply only to the deadlines for asylum applications reviewed by the General Inspectorate for Migration under the expedited procedure.
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The Parliament will examine the draft law in its second reading during a plenary session.
On Monday, the National Security, Defense, and Public Order Committee and the Legal, Appointments, and Immunities Committee held hearings with state institutions. This followed the assassination of an individual on July 10 while he was at a terrace in the Riscani sector of the capital. Authorities later identified the victim as a Turkish citizen, who British officials had placed on an international wanted list.