Judgment_paragraph 195 · Criminal proceedings against PM and Others (C-357/19)

195In the present case, it is apparent from the information provided in the requests for a preliminary ruling in Cases C‑357/19, C‑811/19 and C‑840/19, as summarised in paragraphs 60, 95 and 107 of this judgment, that, by its Decision No 417/2019, delivered on 3 July 2019 on referral from the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Curtea Constituțională (Constitutional Court) ordered that all cases on which the Înalta Curte de Casaţie şi Justiţie (High Court of Cassation and Justice) had ruled at first instance prior to 23 January 2019 and in which the decisions given by that court were not final on the date of that decision be re-examined by panels specialised in anti-corruption matters and established in accordance with Article 29(1) of Law No 78/2000, as interpreted by the Curtea Constituțională (Constitutional Court). According to that same information, the findings made in Decision No 417/2019 require the re-examination at first instance, inter alia, of all cases which, as at 23 January 2019, were pending on appeal or in which the judgment on appeal was, as at that same date, still open to an extraordinary appeal. It is further apparent from the information that, in its Decision No 685/2018, which was delivered on 7 November 2018 on referral from the Prime Minister, the Curtea Constituțională (Constitutional Court) found that the selection by the drawing of lots of only four of the five members of the five-judge panels of the Înalta Curte de Casaţie şi Justiţie (High Court of Cassation and Justice) ruling on appeal was contrary to Article 32 of Law No 304/2004, as amended, and clarified that, with effect from the date of its publication, that decision was applicable, inter alia, to cases pending before the courts and to cases in which a ruling had been given, in so far as the individuals concerned were still within the period for the exercise of the appropriate extraordinary appeals, and that the case-law established in that decision requires that all those cases be subject to re-examination on appeal by a panel, all the members of which are selected by the drawing of lots.