October 18 (SeeNews) - Moldova's Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that president Igor Dodon can be suspended from office after he refused twice to swear in a new defence minister.
Last month, pro-European prime minister Pavel Filip proposed Eugen Sturza as defence minister twice, but Dodon, who favours closer ties with Russia, refused to swear him in both times. Dodon motivated his refusal by saying in a televised statement that Sturza has no background as a professional military officer.
The court ruled that Dodon has the obligation to accept the appointments made by Filip, and that he could be "temporarily stripped of his duties to exercise part of his constitutional powers, for deliberately and repeatedly refusing to appoint a minister," a press release on the court's website shows.
In a post on Facebook, Dodon wote on Tuesday night that the court's decision is a "serious violation" of the Constitution.
"I will not give up! I am only responsible before the Moldovan people, and no court can compel me to sign what I disagree with, while exercising this office on behalf of the people," Dodon wrote.
He also threatened street protests and said the first thing he would do after either parliamentary elections are held would be to ensure that the Constitutional Court gets new members.
Moldova has been without a defence minister since December when Anatol Salaru stepped down. Interim minister Gheorghe Galbura was dismissed after sending soldiers to a multinational training exercise in Ukraine, disregarding the president's instructions.
President Dodon is the commander in chief of the Moldovan army.
At the end of July, Moldova's pro-European parliament demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from the breakaway region of Transnistria, much to the discontent of president Dodon.
Around a tenth of the ex-Soviet state's population of three million is living in the internationally unrecognised separatist republic of Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova in the 1990s. They speak Russian and identify themselves as Russians.
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