Moldova liberal-democrats ask Constitutional Court to rescind ruling stripping their leader of deputy's immunity
CHISINAU. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Moldova's Liberal Democratic Party, or PLDM, has challenged the procedure of the deprivation of its leader and ex-prime minister Vlad Filat of deputy's immunity, filing a petition at the Constitutional Court.
The petition was filed on Monday morning by a group of PLDM members of parliament.
Deputy Tudor Deliu told reporters that the liberal democrats demanded that the parliament regulation adopted on the case last Thursday be invalidated.
"We demand that the Constitutional Court consider our petition as a matter of priority. The actions of the parliament constituted a major breach of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, as well as of the procedure established for deprivation of deputy's immunity, which was exercised in haste, with numerous infringements on procedural requirements," Deliu said.
"They organized a show in the parliament, whilst the procedure for deprivation of immunity is strictly set forth in the law," he said.
It was reported earlier that the former prime minister was detained last Thursday in the parliament building after the parliament voted for him to be stripped of his parliamentary immunity. The reason for him being charged was that Ilan Shora, the husband of pop singer Jasmine, turned himself in and said he had paid Filat some $250,000 in bribes since 2011.
Filat is charged with 'passive corruption' and 'abuse of office with receipt of bribes' in "extraordinarily large amounts" in both cases.
According to the Moldovan Criminal Code, the former prime minister faces up to 15 years in prison and up to 200,000 lei ($20,000) in fines, with deprivation of the right to hold specific posts or engage in specific activities during a period of 10-15 years.
Earlier a court in Chisinau ruled to preliminarily arrest Filat for 30 days.