Constitutional Court of Moldova Ruled Illegal the Shor Party Activity

The Constitutional Court granted the request of the Government of the Republic and declared the activity of the opposition party Shor illegal. “The Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that the activity of the Shor party is illegal. At the time of announcing this decision the political party Shor is considered dissolved”, announced the head of the Constitutional Court Nikolai Roşca. Shor lawyer Aureliu Colenco told journalists after the court session that the Constitutional Court decision would be repealed by the European Court of Human Rights. “We will demand that the magistrates who made this decision be held accountable, except for those who voted against it. We believe that this decision is criminal”, he said. On May 11, the Constitutional Court started considering the government’s appeal to audit the Shor party. On April 13, the judges of the Court of Appeals sentenced the head of the party, Ilan Shor, to 15 years in prison in absentia. The investigation considers him the organizer of an illegal scheme to withdraw $1 billion from Moldovan banks. The politician, who is now in Israel, said that he did not intend to obey the decision of the judges. Since 2022, protests demanding the resignation of the government, organized by the party Shor, are continuing in Moldova. In February 2023, President Maia Sandu said that Russia was planning “by violent actions disguised as protests of the so-called opposition” to change the government in Chisinau. Meanwhile, Ilan Shor and his party do not hide their links with Moscow, where the Shor representatives traveled to meet with Russian parliamentarians.