 Hello, I'm Vladislav Gribinja, I'm leading the Legal Resources Centre, an independent think tank from Kishinau, Moldova. I will be speaking about the COVID situation in Moldova, a country squeezed between Ukraine and Romania. On 7th of March, the first COVID-19 case was detected in Moldova. On May 20, there were more than 6,500 persons infected with COVID in my country. A quarter of this number is medical personnel. More than 250 people died of COVID until May 20. The per capita number of infected persons in Moldova is 3 times higher than the world average. However, the number of deaths caught by COVID is only 20% above the average. I should note here that I'm reporting above only the official statistics, but official statistics in Moldova often show a picture which is far from reality. On 17th of March, the Moldovan government declared a state of emergency and introduced a number of restrictions to alleviate the crisis. The emergency expired on 15th of May. In this period, an emergency committee took over the crisis management functions. The committee issued 29 decisions, ordering the closure of schools, universities, small shops and big malls, restaurants, sports centres, museums, theatres, playgrounds, parks, forests and air traffic. The in-country public transport was not banned but was harshly limited. No total ban on movement of people was imposed, however, people over 63 were ordered to stay at home, while appearing in public of more than 3 persons was also banned. Six localities were quarantined after a high number of COVID cases confirmed. Official measures have been taken in the justice system. The examination of cases, except the urgent ones, was suspended. The legal delimitations were also suspended. However, the defence authorities, notaries, bailiffs and lawyers were compelled to continue their work during the crisis. The judges and prosecutors de facto didn't work. The breach of the imposed rules was sanctioned with fines exceeding 1,000 euros, which is a very high amount for Moldova. However, the respect of the imposed limitations was far from exemplary, especially at the end of the emergency period. The emergency situation was not extended beyond May 15th, apparently due to particularly severe impact of lockdown on economy. It was estimated that some 60% of companies stopped entirely their work, while the public revenues dropped by 70%. However, even after 15th of May, some limitations were kept in place, like the obligations to wear masks in closed public spaces, ban on operation of malls, restaurants and sports centres. The respect of these limitations appeared to be deficient, as in the last days the number of infected persons more than doubled compared to the plateau reached in late April. Freedom of expression was seriously affected by the state of emergency. State Secret, State Service, blocked more than 20 websites that, according to them, were spreading fake news. It should be noted that those websites were not the major influencers in Moldova. The head of the Broadcasting Council, Warder Journalists, to stick to official data when reporting about COVID crisis, to avoid disseminating personal opinions about it. This order was repealed several days later as a result of harsh reaction of journalists that were claiming that the censorship is introduced. The procedure of obtaining information of public interest was also made more complicated by tripling the time limit for offering it. The role of the parliament was limited considerably. It was not convoked for over a month, despite the critic of the opposition. On 1st of April 2020, the government, avoiding the parliament, took a number of economic measures aimed at supporting people and business, some of which were populistic. This decision was later annulled by the Constitutional Court, as adopted contrary to the constitution. The government also started negotiation of a 200 million-year-old loan from the Russian Federation without the opinion of the parliament, which is required by law. The negotiations were very quick and the resulted agreement contained a number of provisions that could affect Moldova. The loan was voted in the parliament with a thunder speed without a genuine debate. The loan agreement was later declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, as it was not clear in its language and could endanger Moldova. Tending examination of this case, the Constitutional Court reported that they were intimidated by the public officials and the surveillance, and called the prosecution service to investigate the incident. So far, no decision on this complaint was taken by prosecutors. A special system of public acquisitions for COVID purposes was put in place. It is not transparent at all, and there were rumors that contracts are assigned based on political interests. The crisis didn't affect elections. The elections in one parliamentary constituency took place just two days before declaring the state of emergency. Perhaps this is the reason why the emergency was declared so late. Indeed, two localities were quarantined shortly after these elections. The presidential elections shall take place in Moldova in fall, and there were no discussions to postpone them. However, the current president, who will most likely run in these elections, used the crisis to promote himself.