of December 1, 2006 No. 371-XVI
About the international legal assistance on criminal cases
The Parliament adopts this organic law.
(1) the Purpose of this law is establishment of the mechanism of realization of provisions of Chapter IX of the Section III of the Special part of the Code of penal procedure on the international legal assistance on criminal cases, and also international treaties in the field, one of the parties of which is the Republic of Moldova.
(2) Application of this law aims at protection of interests of sovereignty, safety, public order and other interests of the Republic of Moldova established by the Constitution.
(3) Provisions of this law are applied to the following forms of the international legal cooperation on criminal cases:
a) transfer of records, data and information;
b) delivery of procedural acts;
c) challenge of witnesses, experts and the pursued persons;
d) execution of orders about production of legal proceedings;
d-1) joint search groups;
e) transfer at the request of criminal law of procedure;
f) extradition;
g) transfer of the condemned persons;
h) recognition of decisions on criminal cases of foreign degrees of jurisdiction;
i) provision of criminal record.
(4) In addition to provided in part (3) forms, within cooperation with the International Criminal Court of provision of this law are applied also to the following forms of the international legal cooperation on criminal cases:
a) transfer of person which is the subject of request of the International Criminal Court;
b) execution of the decisions passed by the International Criminal Court;
c) identification of person, establishment of the place of its stay or location of its property;
d) identification, establishment of the location or arrest of the income from criminal activities, property, the assets and tools received in the criminal way for the purpose of their subsequent confiscation without infringement of the rights of the fair third parties;
e) inspection of the area, including exhumation and survey of the bodies buried in common graves;
f) search and arrest;
g) protection of victims, witnesses and preserving proofs;
h) any other forms of the help which are not prohibited by the legislation of the Republic of Moldova which shall promote investigation and criminal prosecution of the crimes which are within the competence of the International Criminal Court.
The terms and expressions used in this law have the following values in the absence of special instructions:
a) request about rendering the international legal assistance on criminal cases (further - request about legal assistance) - request by means of which the help with certain criminal case in one of the forms provided in Article 1 is asked;
b) the requesting state - the state which sends request about legal assistance;
c) the required state - the state to which the request about legal assistance is addressed;
d) the transit state - the state through which transfer of the extradited person from the required state in requesting is made;
e) the central body - the competent authority of the requesting or required state appointed for transfer of requests about legal assistance;
f) judicial authority - the degrees of jurisdiction and bodies of prosecutor's office established according to the legislation of the Republic of Moldova and also bodies which have this quality in foreign state according to its declarations formulated in the applied international treaties;
g) the pursued person - person, being subject of the decree issued by criminal prosecution authority;
h) person whose extradition is requested, - person which is subject of the procedure of extradition;
i) the extradited person - person whose extradition was allowed;
j) condemnation - any punishment which is taken out by the decision of degree of jurisdiction as a result of establishment of guilt in crime execution;
k) measure of restraint - any measure connected with imprisonment which was established by the judgment for the purpose of amendment or substitution of punishment;
l) temporary arrest for the purpose of extradition - the form of provisional attachment applied by competent degree of jurisdiction for the purpose of extradition of person;
m) the judgment - the decision of degree of jurisdiction to which the conviction is pronounced;
n) the state of condemnation - the state in which person who can be translated or already translated was condemned;
o) the state of execution - the state to which the condemned person can be transferred or was translated for continuation of execution of the punishment.
(1) in the absence of the international treaty the international legal assistance can be given based on the principle of reciprocity through diplomatic channels. Ensuring reciprocity concerning all forms of the international legal assistance shall be performed according to part provisions (2) Article 536 of the Code of penal procedure.
(2) part Provisions (1) and relevant provisions of the Code of penal procedure constitute common law in the field for degrees of jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova.
(3) Non-use of the principle of reciprocity does not interfere with execution in the territory of the Republic of Moldova of requests about legal assistance if:
a) the request about legal assistance is caused by essence of act or need of fight against certain heavy forms of crime;
b) the request about legal assistance can promote improvement of the situation of the defendant or convict or his social reintegration;
c) the request about legal assistance can serve clarification of legal status of the citizen of the Republic of Moldova.
(1) By consideration of the request about legal assistance addressed to the Republic of Moldova needs to be taken into account and the following circumstances which in addition to the conditions provided in Article 534 of the Code of penal procedure can lead to refusal in provision of the required help:
a) criminal proceedings of the requesting state do not correspond to conditions or do not adhere to conditions of the European convention on the protection of the rights and fundamental freedoms of the person concluded in Rome on November 4, 1950 or any other international treaty relating to this area, ratified by the Republic of Moldova;
b) the request about legal assistance is formulated concerning the case which is in production of exclusive courts, others, than created based on the corresponding international treaties, or in execution of the punishment, established by such court;
c) the act causing request about legal assistance is subject of the case which is in production, or this act shall or can become subject of the criminal prosecution which is within the competence of criminal prosecution authorities of the Republic of Moldova;
d) the satisfaction of request about legal assistance can entail heavy effects for the corresponding person because of its age, the state of health or any other reason of personal nature.
(2) According to Item 1) parts (1) Article 534 of the Code of penal procedure the following crimes are not political crimes:
a) attempt at life of the head of state or member of his family;
b) the crimes against humanity provided by the Convention on the prevention and suppression of crime of genocide and punishment for it accepted on December 9, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations which the Republic of Moldova joined based on the Resolution of Parliament N707-XII of September 10, 1991;
c) crimes, stipulated in Article 50 Geneva conventions of 1949 on improvement of fate of wounded and patients in field armies; article 51 of the Geneva convention of 1949 about improvement of fate of wounded, patients and persons, castaway, from structure of armed forces at the sea; article 129 of the Geneva convention of 1949 about the treatment of prisoners of war and article 147 of the Geneva convention of 1949 about protection of the civilian population during war which the Republic of Moldova joined based on the Resolution of Parliament N1318-XII of March 2, 1993;
d) any other similar violations of the military laws which are not provided by provisions of the Geneva conventions specified in Item c);
e) crimes, the stipulated in Article 1 European convention on the fight against terrorism accepted in Strasbourg on January 27, 1997 and in other corresponding international treaties;
f) the actions provided in the Convention against tortures and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment accepted on December 17, 1984 by the General Assembly of the United Nations;
the crime f-1) provided by articles 5-8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ratified by the Law No. 212/2010, and articles 135-144 of the Criminal code;
g) any other crime eliminated political crimes by international treaties one of the parties of which is the Republic of Moldova.
(1) Rendering the international legal assistance is not allowed if in the Republic of Moldova or any other state criminal procedure on the same act and if took place:
a) the final judgment took out justification or the termination of criminal procedure is established;
b) the punishment applied on this case by the final accusatory judgment was performed or was subject of pardon or amnesty in general or concerning unexecuted part.
(2) part Provisions (1) are not applied if the legal assistance is requested for the purpose of review of the final judgment for one of the reasons proving application of this or that exclusive procedure for appeal.
(1) the Republic of Moldova provides, within the law, at the request of the requesting state confidentiality of requests about legal assistance and the documents attached to them. If the condition about preserving confidentiality cannot be provided, the Republic of Moldova notifies on it foreign state which shall make the final decision.
(2) part Provisions (1) are applied as appropriate in case the Republic of Moldova is the requesting state.
(1) Requests about legal assistance are addressed through the central bodies which the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office are. Through the Ministry of Justice the requests about legal assistance formulated at stages of judicial proceedings and execution of the punishment, and are transmitted through the Prosecutor General's Office - formulated at stage of criminal prosecution. Requests about legal assistance can be transferred as directly by bodies of foreign state, and through diplomatic channels or by means of International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
(1-1) Requests about legal assistance formulated specified in part (1) bodies based on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ratified by the Law No. 212/2010, and the related documents are transmitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration through diplomatic channels. Requests and the relevant documents are constituted in Romanian and are followed by the transfer into English which is carried out by the organization issuing these documents.
(2) In case requests about legal assistance are transferred directly to criminal prosecution authorities or judicial authorities of the Republic of Moldova, these bodies have the right to execute only them after receipt of permission to their execution from the central bodies.
(3) In case of emergency the request about legal assistance can be transferred by mail, including electronic, to telegraph, telex, the fax or by means of any other acceptable intermedium which leaves written mark, with guaranteeing the subsequent transfer in the official way.
Competence of bodies of the Republic of Moldova in request formulation about legal assistance or execution of such request addressed to the Republic of Moldova is established by the Code of penal procedure, this law, and also other existing regulations.
(1) the Requests about legal assistance formulated by bodies of the Republic of Moldova, and documents attached to them shall be followed by transfer into one of the languages provided in the international treaty used in the relations with the required state. Transfer of requests about legal assistance and the documents attached to it is performed by the Republic of Moldova if this law does not provide other.
(2) Reply to the requests about legal assistance, formulated by bodies of the Republic of Moldova, is drawn up in the Moldavian language and is transferred to one of the languages provided by the international treaty applied in the relations with the required state if this law does not provide other.
Duration of the arrest performed abroad in pursuance of the request about legal assistance formulated by bodies of the Republic of Moldova based on the Code of penal procedure and this law is considered within criminal proceedings of the Republic of Moldova and joins in duration of the punishment applied by national degrees of jurisdiction.
(1) the Expenses connected with accomplishment of request about legal assistance are paid, as a rule, with the required state.
(2) the Requesting state pays the following expenses:
a) on remuneration of witnesses and experts, and also transport and on stay in the requesting state;
b) connected with transfer of objects;
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