Decision of the Supreme Court: Igor Dodon cannot leave the country. Therefore, he will not go to Mount Athos
Igor Dodon cannot leave the country. The decision was taken on Friday by the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, who rejected the request of the former head of state's lawyers and left in place the ban on leaving the territory of the Republic of Moldova until 19 May. Thus, the former president breaks his tradition of visiting the Holy Mountain in Greece before Easter.
Igor Dodon considers the judges' decision disproportionate and says he will "fight in court to the end" to prove his innocence.
"I knew they would not allow me to go to Mount Athos. That was obvious to me. They didn't allow me now, we are in Lent, on Mount Athos, it's a holy thing before Easter," Igor Dodon said.
On 16 March, he filed an application in court asking to be allowed to go on a pilgrimage to Mount Athos for a few days. On the same day, a hearing was held in the "black bag" case, and at the request of prosecutors, magistrates at the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Dodon could not leave the country and extended his ban by 60 days.
"The court rejected the defendant's request to be allowed to leave the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to Greece, to Mount Athos, as manifestly unfounded," said case prosecutor Petru Iarmaliuc.
Igor Dodon also announced on 16 December last year that he had submitted a request to be allowed to leave for a few days to Greece, on Mount Athos, but even then his request was rejected. According to the prosecutor in the case, at this stage, the request to recuse judges Elena Catană and Nadejda Toma is to be considered, as Dodon's lawyers question their impartiality in considering the request to appeal the preventive measure against their client. Igor Dodon is under criminal investigation on several counts of illicit enrichment, passive bribery, treason, and acceptance of political party financing by a criminal organisation.
