Chapter I. Criminal Code and Principles of its Application. Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova
Excerpt from the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova
Article 1. Criminal Law of the Republic of Moldova
(1) This Code is the only criminal law of the Republic of Moldova.
(2) The Criminal Code is the legislative act that includes legal norms that establish the principles and general and special provisions of criminal law, determine the acts that constitute crimes and provide for the penalties that apply to criminals.
(3) This Code is applied in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and international acts to which the Republic of Moldova is a party. If there are inconsistencies with international acts on fundamental human rights, international regulations have priority and are directly applied.
Article 2. Purpose of the Criminal Law
(1) The criminal law protects, against crimes, the person, his rights and freedoms, property, the environment, the constitutional order, the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, the peace and security of mankind, as well as the entire legal order.
(2) The criminal law also aims to prevent the commission of new crimes.
Article 3. Principle of legality
(1) No one may be declared guilty of committing a crime or subjected to a criminal punishment, except on the basis of a court decision and in strict accordance with the criminal law.
(2) Extensive unfavorable interpretation and application by analogy of the criminal law are prohibited.
Article 4. Principle of humanism
(1) The entire legal regulation is intended to protect, as a priority, the person as the supreme value of society, his rights and freedoms.
(2) Criminal law does not pursue the purpose of causing physical suffering or harming human dignity. No one may be subjected to torture, or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment.
Article 5. The principle of democracy
(1) Persons who have committed crimes are equal before the law and are subject to criminal liability without distinction as to sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national or social origin, membership of a national minority, property, birth or any other status.
(2) The defence of the rights and interests of a person cannot be achieved by violating the rights and interests of another person or a group.
Article 6. The principle of the personal nature of criminal liability
(1) A person is subject to criminal liability and criminal punishment only for acts committed with guilt.
(2) Only a person who has committed an act provided for by criminal law intentionally or through negligence is subject to criminal liability and criminal punishment.
Article 7. The principle of individualization of criminal liability and criminal punishment
(1) When applying the criminal law, the nature and degree of prejudiciality of the committed offense, the person of the guilty party and the circumstances of the case that mitigate or aggravate criminal liability shall be taken into account.
(2) No one may be subjected to criminal prosecution and criminal punishment twice for one and the same act.
Article 8. Action of the criminal law in time
The criminal nature of the act and the punishment for it shall be established by the criminal law in force at the time of the act.
Article 9. Time of commission of the act
The time of commission of the act is considered the time when the prejudicial action (inaction) was committed, regardless of the time of the consequences.
Article 10. Retroactive effect of criminal law
(1) The criminal law that removes the criminal nature of the act, that mitigates the punishment or, in another way, improves the situation of the person who committed the crime has retroactive effect, that is, it extends to the persons who committed the respective acts until the entry into force of this law, including to the persons who are serving the sentence or who have served the sentence but have a criminal record.
(2) A criminal law that increases the penalty or worsens the situation of the person guilty of committing a crime shall not have retroactive effect.
Article 101. Application of the more favourable criminal law in the case of final penalties
(1) If, after the conviction has become final and until the full execution of the custodial sentence, unpaid community service or fine, a law has come into force which provides for one of these types of punishment, but with a lower maximum, the sanction applied shall be reduced to this maximum if it exceeds the maximum provided for by the new law for the crime committed.
(2) If, after the finality of the life imprisonment sentence and until its execution, a law has intervened which provides for the same act only the penalty of imprisonment, the penalty of life imprisonment shall be replaced by the maximum penalty of imprisonment, provided for by the new law for that offence.
(3) If the new law provides instead of the penalty of imprisonment only the penalty of unpaid community service or a fine, the penalty applied shall be replaced by unpaid community service, if there are no prohibitions on its application, without exceeding the maximum provided for by the new law. If the new law provides instead of the penalty of imprisonment only the penalty of fine, the penalty applied shall be replaced by a fine, without exceeding the maximum provided for in the new law. Taking into account the executed part of the prison sentence, the execution of the sentence of unpaid community service or, as the case may be, of the fine may be removed in whole or in part.
(4) Complementary sentences, security measures not provided for in the new law shall no longer be executed, and those that have a counterpart in the more favorable new law shall be executed within the content and limits provided for in this law.
(5) If a provision of the new law refers to definitively imposed sentences, account shall be taken, in the case of sentences executed until the date of its entry into force, of the reduced or replaced sentence according to the provisions of paragraphs (l)–(4).
(6) If the act for which the person is serving the sentence is no longer considered a crime in accordance with the provisions of the new law, but constitutes a contravention, the contravention sanction shall no longer apply, regardless of the category and amount of the sanction provided.
(7) If, based on the retroactive effect of the criminal law, the reclassification of the act established by an irrevocable court decision is required, the court, resolving the issue regarding the execution of the respective decision, shall reclassify the act and apply the punishment by setting the maximum sanction provided by the criminal law more favorable to the convicted person, if the punishment established by the irrevocable decision is higher than the maximum provided by the new criminal law, or shall maintain the punishment established by the irrevocable decision.
Article 11. Application of criminal law in space
(1) All persons who have committed crimes on the territory of the Republic of Moldova shall be held criminally liable in accordance with this Code.
(2) Citizens of the Republic of Moldova and stateless persons with permanent residence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova who have committed crimes outside the territory of the country shall be liable for criminal liability in accordance with this Code.
(3) Foreign citizens and stateless persons who have committed crimes outside the territory of the country shall bear criminal liability in accordance with this Code and shall be held criminally liable on the territory of the Republic of Moldova if the crimes committed are directed against the interests of the Republic of Moldova, against the rights and freedoms of a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, against the rights and freedoms of a stateless person with permanent residence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, against a legal entity registered in the Republic of Moldova, against peace and security of mankind or if they constitute war crimes, as well as for crimes provided for by international treaties to which the Republic of Moldova is a party and if a final court decision of conviction, acquittal or termination of criminal proceedings has not been pronounced in the foreign state in respect of them. Foreign citizens and stateless persons who have committed crimes on the territory of another state shall be liable for criminal liability in accordance with this Code, but their extradition is not possible.
(4) The criminal law does not apply to crimes committed by diplomatic representatives of foreign states or other persons who, in accordance with international treaties, are not subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova.
(5) Crimes committed in the territorial waters and airspace of the Republic of Moldova are considered to have been committed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. A person who has committed a crime on a sea or air vessel registered in a port or airport of the Republic of Moldova and located outside the water or airspace of the Republic of Moldova may be subject to criminal liability in accordance with this Code, unless otherwise provided for in international treaties to which the Republic of Moldova is a party.
(6) Under this Code, persons who have committed crimes on board a sea or air military vessel belonging to the Republic of Moldova, regardless of its location, are also subject to criminal liability.
(7) Punishments and criminal records for crimes committed outside the territory of the Republic of Moldova are taken into account, in accordance with this Code, when individualizing the punishment for a new crime committed by the same person on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, as well as when resolving issues regarding amnesty under reciprocity conditions based on the court decision.
Article 12. Place of commission of the act
(1) The place of commission of the act is considered to be the place where the prejudicial action (inaction) was committed, regardless of the time of the occurrence of the consequences.
(2) The place of commission of a transnational crime shall be deemed to be such if:
a) the crime was committed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and on the territory of at least one other state;
b) the crime was committed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, but a substantial part of its organization and control took place in another state, and vice versa;
c) the crime was committed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, with the involvement of an organized criminal group or a criminal organization (association) that carries out criminal activity in more than one state, and vice versa;
d) the crime was committed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, but has serious consequences in another state, and vice versa.
Article 13. Extradition
(1) Citizens of the Republic of Moldova and persons granted political asylum in the Republic of Moldova, in case of committing a crime abroad, may not be extradited and are subject to criminal liability in accordance with this Code.
(2) Foreign citizens and stateless persons who have committed crimes outside the territory of the Republic of Moldova, but are on the territory of the country, may be extradited only on the basis of an international treaty to which the Republic of Moldova is a party or under conditions of reciprocity pursuant to a court decision, unless there are serious grounds to believe that they risk being subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment.
