Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Liz SEATON
Justice at Stake, Deputy Executive Director
Activity/Meeting Topic
May 4
May 5
May 6
May 8
May 9
holiday
Excursion
HERE).
(see
May 10
holiday
May 11
Location:
Chisinau
May 12
at
Purcari
winery
Parliament
headquarters,
human
rights
and
inter-ethnic
relations.
/
Topic: Respect for human rights in
Moldova.
/
Members of the Committee for human
rights and inter-ethnic relation.
Location:
Universities
headquarters,
Chisinau.
/
Students and lecturers, general public.
May 14
May 15
Location:
Ombudsman
headquarters, Chisinau.
/
Ombudsman and staff of the Office.
holiday
May 17
May 16
Office
holiday
Andrei and his wife Diana host Seaton at their home the first evening, and serve a
traditional Moldovan meal and show Seaton a wedding video to help her understand
Moldovan traditions.
Monday, May 4:
Seaton begins working from Briceacs Law office, PB & Partners, which also houses the
Institute for Civil Justice. Seaton performs online research for a more thorough
understanding of Moldovan society and especially its political and judicial structures so
she can be of maximum assistance to Briceac in the coming two weeks. Briceac arranges
for several Outbound Project meetings.
Tuesday, May 5:
Briceac and Seaton meet with David Jesse, Country Director, and Dr. Daniela MuncaAftenev, Open World/Professional Fellows Program Officer, at the American Councils
for International Education offices. They then visit multiple government agencies to
request meetings, and also stop by the American Resource Center, a project of the U.S.
Embassy. Seaton submits a requested letter proposing a presentation to Moldovan
students in the second Outbound Project week (a request they never respond to,
probably because it is the end of semester, which they told Seaton and Briceac).
Briceac and Seaton meet with Dr. Stefan Urtu, Vice President of the Central
Elections Commission (Comisiei Electorale Centrale), to discuss a range of issues:
election practices in Moldova, election access for people with disabilities (following a
roundtable discussion held earlier that day), the challenges in voting for Moldovans who
are physically disabled and generally housebound, the politics of judicial selection in the
U.S. and Moldova, and both countrys justice systems in general terms.
Wednesday, May 6:
Briceac and Seaton videotape messages in English and Romanian about the Outbound
Project for posting on the websites of both the Institute for Civil Justice and Justice at
Stake, and to post on Facebook, to build visibility for their work. See both organizations
websites for the video (http://publicpres.info/;
https://justcivil.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/liz-seaton-in-moldova/ )
Seaton and Briceac visit with two Members of Parliament and their staff. Stefan
Schidu, Assistant to Member of Parliament Gheorghe Brega, guides and assists with
both meetings.
The first meeting is with Member of Parliament, Deputy Ion Casian, who serves
on the Committee for Human Rights and Inter-Ethnic Relations. The discussion centers
on promoting a general understanding of both countrys methods of assuring human
rights, challenges in doing so, and the importance of fair and impartial courts to the
overall process. Casian actively promotes Moldova joining NATO. Schidu participates in
the meeting.
The second meeting is with Parliament Member Corina Fusu, a Member of the
Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sports and Mass Media. The
discussion focuses on the role of women in Moldovan government, particularly
Parliament, the rights of minorities in societies, Moldovan society and politics generally,
the role that partisan politics play in a democratic society, and more. Also participating
in the discussion is Sergiu Beghean, Assistant to Deputy Fusu.
Thursday, May 7:
Seaton spends morning preparing a document for a planned meeting with the chief
justice of the Supreme Court of Justice, scheduled for Monday. The document is a
summary of the federal and state judicial selection systems in use in the United States,
with a focus on citizen engagement. Briceac is due in the Curtea de Apel (Court of
Appeals) at noon on a case from his private practice, a case that has now been pending
since 2006. Delays in legal cases are unfortunately too common.
Seaton accompanies Briceac and witnesses courthouse and court room hearings
in front of a panel of three judges for several hours in order to better comprehend
Moldovan legal practices. Briceac briefs Seaton on standard practices and protocols in
Moldovan courts. Briceacs case is postponed, as the opponents are stalling because
their arguments are week. Interestingly, one possible reform to Moldovan court
practices are potential deadlines for case resolution at various court levels, to prevent
this kind of problem.
Seaton and Briceac (shown here is his attorney robe) also review the legal system
improvement policy proposals of the Chief Justice in order to begin to prepare for
Mondays meeting (which includes case decision deadlines), and begin to discuss
possible substantive areas of focus for this critical meeting.
Briceac takes Seaton to lunch at La Placinta, which serves traditional Moldovan cuisine.
Friday, May 8:
Seaton visits a morning religious service at Catedrala Nasterea Domnului to gain a
better understanding of the faith practices of the people of this country. Seaton visits a
local bookstore, local grocery store, and a local park. Around the city, preparations are
being made for the Day of Victory the following day, and Briceac explains this to Seaton.
Briceac and Seaton prepare for Mondays meetings with Supreme Court of Justice and
the General Prosecutors Office. In the evening, Briceac and Seaton attend an opera at
the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
Saturday, May 9:
In the early morning, Seaton witnesses pro-Russian Moldovan citizens gathering and
piping Russian music at the local park, and also other people and organizations
preparing for the Day of Victory.
Briceac and his wife Diana and daughter Patricia take Seaton on a tour north of
Chisinau, driving through many villages and across the countryside in wine country.
They visit Cricova briefly, and there Briceac uses a map of the region in the cellars to
give Seaton a brief history of Moldova and the region, and Seaton sees local pottery and
art. They have lunch and sample a local wine at the Chateau Vartely. In the evening,
Seaton watches news reports about the Day of Victory gatherings and Russian army
demonstrations in Moscow.
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They lunch together at a local restaurant that serves traditional Ukrainian food, with
servers wearing traditional garb, and go to a beach resort on the Black Sea. Seaton
wades in the Black Sea for the first time in her life, and explains how when she was a
child this opportunity did not even seem like a possibility. Seaton witnesses Ukrainian
families at recreation, and notes that this vision of Ukrainians is probably not how most
Americans hearing international news would picture Ukranians, at leisure. They travel
back to Chisinau, stopping on the way to appreciate the sunset in the XX river valley.
After dropping off Andreis father at the village grocery store their family owns and runs,
they are served a and lovely dinner by Andreis mother at her home.
protect courts from political pressure and increase diversity on the bench, the need for
quality judges who are fair and impartial at all levels, and the work of the Institute for
Civil Justice in Moldova. They discuss the promotion practices and the qualifications of
individuals to serve on a countrys highest court. The Chairman had previously proposed
several reforms for the Moldovan courts, and the three discuss those as well, most
particularly 1) the proposal to compose the Supreme Court of half judges and half
important Moldovans from other sectors of society such as law, science, etc; 2) the
proposal to begin to use jurors for important cases where the potential penalties are
severe. Seaton stresses that in the experience of her organization, the better the people
understand the courts, the more they are able to support their decisions and participate
in the courts process. Merit selection, with citizen nominating commissions is
discussed. Because the Chairman had previously served on the European Court of
Human Rights, discussion touched on several topics related to its work, and the
comparison of Moldovan courts and justice systems to those of other European
countries, such as France, as well as those of the United States. There is a discussion of
the distinct roles that the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Council of
Magistrates play in Moldova.
Briceac and Seaton meet with Mircea Rosioru, Chairman of The Superior Council
of Prosecutors and Alaxandru CLADCO (a PFP alumnus), who serves as the primary
translator for the meeting.
They are provided with an overview of the authority of the prosecutors in Moldova,
European standards with which Moldova must comply, discuss the two countrys
respective justice systems, and discuss pending legislation to reform the prosecutors
office. In casual conversation, PFP alumnus provides a perspective on the economic
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hardship posed by Russia in blocking sales of Moldovan wines, while to the west, other
European markets are saturated with wine products.
The members describe, in some detail, the processes for the selection of judges in
Moldova, and the role of the Supreme Council and how it is constituted. They discuss
the problem of elections in the United States, and Seaton describes the value of citizen
involvement through a nominating commission in the process of merit selection in the
U.S. The members say that the civil society voice in Moldova is strong and taken into
consideration into consideration in the selection of judges. Briceac introduces the topic
of the potential for Moldova to use jurors in some cases.
Professor Carnat asks Seaton to describe her views on the use of jurors and its value. In
response, Seaton describes how jurors are used in both criminal and civil cases, and how
they determine issues of fact (unless a jury trial is waived) while judges determine issues
of law. The civil duty of jury duty helps with the American publics understanding of
and confidence in the courts. In addition, there is discussion of issues of diversity on
the bench, with Seaton describing how Justice at Stake views this issue: it promotes
public confidence in the courts and results in better decision-making. There is
discussion of issues of court funding, and this appears not to be a problem in Moldova
(while it is sometimes and somewhere a problem in the U.S.). This discussion comes to
a close with the discussion of some members of the Commission of their experiences in
visiting a prison in Arizona in the U.S. Overall, a positive meeting.
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For several days Seaton has been sketching the local cathedral and square in her spare
time.
It is the 14th Moldovan LGBT Pride festival week, and in the evening Seaton
attends the Opening of the photo exhibition Because I Live Here, at the B.P. Hasdeu
Municipal Library. The exhibit features LGBT Moldovans in their daily lives, and is
printed in three languages: Moldovan, Russian and English. They also view a few new
videos along the same lines. There she meets the chair, Anastasia, and leadership team
of GenderDOC-M, the LGBT advocacy group, and also encounters staff from the ABA
ROLI program and the U.S. Department of State (non-discrimination section). Seaton
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extends the greetings of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT organization in
Washington, D.C. (where Seaton used to work as General Counsel and Legal Director) to
the leadership of GenderDOC-M and congratulates them on a fine event. She gives
Anastasia a gift bag from the National LGBTQ Task Force in Washington, D.C.
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On the way back, Seaton and Briceac listen to Parliament discussing budget
issues over the radio. Briceac explains the countrys budgetary processes, and the roles
of the executive and legislative branches. Seaton notes that after two weeks in the
country, and having studied Romanian before coming, she is starting to understand
more of the language.
Friday, May 15:
Seaton and Briceac hold a roundtable at the public library. The topic of the
roundtable was: Cooperation between the courts and civil society, the U.S. experience.
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IV.
IMPACT:
Briceac and Seaton agreed that the project had a positive impact. Seaton has had a lot of
important meetings with high state officials and members of civil society. She has
shared her experience and learned from the experience of the Moldovan experts. The
Chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice and the members of the Supreme Council of
Magistracy have highly appreciated the ideas and opinions expressed by Seaton about
the best practices and standards for judiciary.
The project was full of cultural activities. During the short period of the Project Seaton
visited different locations, monuments and historical places. She has interacted with
Moldovans of different social status, age, sexual orientation and political views. This
helped her to understand better the culture, traditions and mores of Moldovans. She has
tasted national food and wine.
The Project had a great impact on the image of Andrei Briceac and his organization,
Institute for Civil Justice. He established better contacts with the state authorities and
important members of civil society. He was invited by the Supreme Council of
Magistracy to participate at the elaboration of a new set of legal initiatives that are
meant to accelerate legal reform in Moldova.
More people were informed about the Professional Fellowship Program and about the
great opportunities offered by it to young Moldovan leaders.
V.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Related links:
Briceac and Seaton at the Supreme Council of Magistracy;
Briceac and Seaton at the Supreme Court of Justice;
Briceac and Seaton Press Conference;
https://justcivil.wordpress.com/
Andrei BRICEAC
PFP Alumni
Institute of Civil Justice, Chairman
Chiinu, Moldova
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