The Central Court of Appeal has sent for retrial the case regarding the expulsion of Turkish teachers in September 2018, in which the former director of the Information and Security Service, Vasile Botnari, is accused, reports IPN.
The court has admitted the appeal filed by the injured party, Galina Tufekci, and partially overturned, on the criminal side, the sentence of July 15, 2020, of the Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarters. The case was sent back for retrial to the court of first instance, to a different panel of judges.
The retrial will focus on individualizing the punishment and the civil aspects of the case, while the rest of the provisions of the first instance verdict from July 15, 2020 remain in effect.
Former SIS chief Vasile Botnari was found guilty of abuse of office in connection with the expulsion of seven Turkish teachers from the territory of the Republic of Moldova in September 2018. In 2020, the court imposed a criminal fine of 88 thousand lei and a ban on holding certain public positions for a period of five years.
Before the sentence was pronounced, Botnari voluntarily paid 125 thousand euros to the Ministry of Finance, as compensation for the damage caused to the state by the conviction of the Republic of Moldova at the ECHR, as well as over 348 thousand lei to the SIS, to cover the costs related to the rental of the ship used for the expulsion of persons.
