Chisinau Court canceld the order not to initiate criminal proceedings issued by the Chisinau Prosecutor's Office against the authors and the Center for Investigative Journalism of the Republic of Moldova (CIJM) who conducted and published the investigation "VIDEO // Fictitious divorce and hidden property of prosecutor Igor Popa" . Based on this investigation, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office acted and filed two criminal cases  against Prosecutor Popa, for false statements and illicit enrichment, the first  one was sent to court.

The decision was made by the magistrate Victor Răţoi from the Ciocana office of the Chisinau District Court, which is not far from the Prosecutor's Office where Igor Popa was chief until his detention by anti-corruption prosecutors. No one from the CIJM was invited to the court hearing, and we accidentally found out about the decision taken by the court from a prosecutor.

The complaint admitted by Victor Răţoi was filed by the former lawyer Ala Popa, the wife of the prosecutor Igor Popa, who challenged the prosecutors' decision not to start a criminal case against the journalists.

Ala Popa addressed the police in November 2020, citing “illegal collection and unauthorized dissemination by the Center for Investigative Journalism of information about personal life. The former lawyer argued that activist Anatol Mătăsaru and journalist Julieta Saviţchi filmed at the gate where she lives, then the CIJM published the investigation. The police started a criminal trial in which they heard Ala Popa as a victim,  and some guards from the residential neighborhood where she lives and with whom they contacted in the process of documenting the CIJM reporters. Moreover, the police officers  in charge with the case requested the decisions of the National Center for the Personal Data Protection.

The criminal trial no. 20200101462 of November 4, 2020 lasted almost a year, being examined in the light of the provisions of art. 177 of the Criminal Code, according to which the legislator establishes the criminal liability for “violation of the inviolability of personal life”, ie “illegal collection or knowingly dissemination of information, protected by law, about personal life, which constitutes personal or family secret of another person, without her consent. We remind that during the criminal trial, the police officers did their job without asking for explanations from the CIJM.

On September 20, 2021, the prosecutor Sergiu Harea from the Centru Prosecutor's Office signed the ordinance not to start the criminal case against the Center for Journalistic Investigations. He accepted the report with the proposal not to start the criminal case , presented by the criminal investigation officer of the Criminal Investigation Section of the Police Inspectorate Centru of the Chisinau Police Department, Mihaela Crulicovschi.

The reason for not starting the criminal case in the criminal process no. 20200101462 was that "the deed does not meet the elements of the crime". Thus, the criminal case against the Center for Investigative Journalism was closed. Below we publish the text of the Ordinance for the classification of criminal proceedings.

The CIJM team does not know the reasons why the court forced the prosecutor to start a criminal case for conducting and publishing this investigation.

The investigation into how Igor Popa resorted to a fictitious divorce in order not to declare the properties he could not cover with his salary from the prosecutor's office, turned into a struggle between the Center for Investigative Journalism, the author of the investigation and a civic activist with state institutions and the accuser's wife. Ala Popa really harassed us right from the first documents we did. She wrote complaints to several state institutions, to the Press Council, to the Police and the Prosecutor's Office, she sued us. Some institutions responded to the prosecutor's wife's complaints at a time when the case was barely documented. Others have started criminal proceedings and even criminal cases.

Igor Popa was detained on November 9, 2021. The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office started the criminal case against Igor Popa based on a journalistic investigation on the anticoruptie portal.md about his luxury home in a  block of flats in Chisinau.

Igor Popa was targeted by several journalistic investigations. During the communist government, he was accused of fabricating files and of ordering the trial of young protesters at police stations.

During the government led by Vladimir Plahotniuc, prosecutor Igor Popa was promoted to deputy general prosecutor.