Procedure of medical examination of seriously ill convicts to be simplified in Moldova

Chisinau, 12 June /MOLDPRES/ - The government has approved the Regulation on the procedure of medical examination of the seriously ill convicts, in order to enforce the release from the serving of the term or for the replacement, cancellation of the preventive arrest. The document will guarantee the observance of the human rights and freedoms in the penitentiary institutions.  

Thus, the procedures of ascertaining and management of the new cases of serious diseases or which worsened during time will be simplified; the convicts are given possibility to undergo a complex treatment at a civilian medical institution or at home, when their condition hinders the serving of the punishment or the preventive arrest. In this respect, the doubling of the commissions with right of decision on the presentation for release was excluded; this was entrusted exclusively with the Council at the level of the penitentiary hospital.   

At the same time, the list of serious diseases which hinder the stay of people in prison was updated, among which the TB, diseases of the endocrine system, serious respiratory diseases, etc. Also, the degrees of seriousness of several diseases were reevaluated.

The improvement of the legal framework is necessary, given that, in the last five years, decision-makers found out that more than half of the convicts had died while waiting for a ruling. In 2023, two out of four convicted people died till the pronunciation of the ruling.