Provisions Incriminating the Organisation of Illegal Migration – Constitutional

Constitutional Court of Moldova (CCM) declared constitutional Article 362¹ of the Criminal Code, which incriminates the organisation of illegal migration aimed at gaining - directly or indirectly - financial or material benefits.

In its reasoning, the Court held that the organisation of illegal migration is a crime that exceeds national borders. By instituting the phrase "State^,s territory," there have been introduced in the legislation actions referring to the organisation of illegal migration not only on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, but also at transnational level. The Court observed that it falls under the competence of the courts of law to apply the provision to the circumstances of each case individually.

The Court also found that the exception of unconstitutionality raised with regards to Article 424.2 and Article 431.1, para. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which provide for the procedure of the judicial process at the stage of recourses is inadmissible, as these provisions do not have incidence on solving the cases pending before the courts of law where they were brought forward.

For these reasons, the complaints lodged by the lawyers Nicoară Vasile and Spînu Iurie within the cases pending before the Court of Appeal were rejected by the Constitutional Court of Moldova.

The case was examined by the Court in the following composition: Mr Alexandru TĂNASE, President and Mr Aurel BĂIEŞU, Mr Igor DOLEA, Mr Tudor PANȚÎRU, Mr Victor POPA, Mr Veaceslav ZAPOROJAN, judges.

Press Service of the Constitutional Court of Moldova

This press-release is also available in Romanian language.