Radio România Internațional

Tag: compensatory appeal law

  • The compensatory appeal law has been repealed

    The compensatory appeal law has been repealed

    Having taken effect two years ago,
    the compensatory appeal law was repealed on Wednesday in Parliament by
    unanimous vote. Originally designed by Justice Minister Raluca Pruna, the law
    was passed in 2017 by the Social-Democratic ruling power. It was meant to do
    away with the harsh sanctions Romania was handed down by the European Court of
    Human Rights for its improper detention facilities. According to the National
    Penitentiary Administration, some 23 thousand felons were released from prison
    under the new law, of which 19,000 on probation. 2,300 reoffended and were sent
    back to prison, some of them having committed criminal offences shortly after
    their release, others because they were being investigated in other criminal
    cases at the time of their release. The National Liberal Party in power, in
    this matter supported by Save Romania Union, admits the law was originally
    designed to deal with the precarious situation in penitentiaries, but claims it
    was twisted by the Social-Democrats to serve as an amnesty in disguise. Liberal
    MP Ioan Cupsa:


    The law 169 of 2017 denoted an
    obvious lack of wisdom and goodwill, unlike anything this Parliament has seen.
    You knew the effects it would have, but you needed some of your colleagues to
    be released earlier from prison, so you let everyone go.


    The Social-Democrats defend
    themselves, arguing everyone who got an early prison release under the
    compensatory appeal law was released by court order. Alfred Simonis, the leader
    of the Social-Democratic group in the Chamber of Deputies, who voted in favor
    of the repeal, has admitted to the flaws in the former law, saying citizen
    safety prevails over any sanctions Romania might receive from the European
    Court of Human Rights for its improper detention facilities.


    We hope that the new Government
    will find alternative means of detention, as well as measures to avoid ECHR
    sanctions. We all agree it’s better to pay compensations, if it comes to that,
    rather than release people from penitentiaries.


    On the very day the law was
    repealed, the Finance Ministry published a draft law whereby the state has
    loaned 177 million euros from the Council of Europe Development Bank. The money
    will be used to build two penitentiaries that will be able to detain 1,900
    offenders in line with European standards.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • January 16, 2019 UPDATE

    January 16, 2019 UPDATE

    UPDATE (21:40): The motion of no confidence in Theresa May’s government, tabled in Britain’s Parliament by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in an attempt to force a general election, fails by 325 to 306 votes.

    On Tuesday, the British MPs rejected by a large majority the UK’s EU withdrawal agreement. The rejection of the Brexit deal is the harshest defeat for a British cabinet in modern times, and questions Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, less than 3 months before it is scheduled to take effect. Analysts predict a severe crisis in the UK. Several scenarios have been discussed, including early elections and the holding of a second referendum.


    BREXIT – Britains government must clarify its position after Parliament voted down the Brexit agreement, the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in Bucharest on Wednesday. In his opinion, this decision is regrettable. He added however not that all the procedures which may lead to the approval of the deal have been used, and that the Romanians living in the UK need not worry because the European leaders are prepared for other options as well. The agreement approved by the 27 member states will not be renegotiated, the head of the Romanian state added. In turn, the Romanian Foreign Ministry writes in a communiqué that the UKs withdrawal from the community bloc is a major priority on the agenda of the Romanian Government, particularly from the perspective of finalising this process during Romanias mandate at the helm of the Council of the European Union.



    COMPENSATORY APPEAL – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Wednesday called on the government to come up with solutions to the issue of compensatory appeal, after several cases of violence have been reported of late, perpetrated by former convicts, released from prison ahead of time, based on this law. Also on Wednesday, the Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader, announced that on Monday he will present the PM Viorica Dancila with an analysis of the compensatory appeal law and its effects, as well as with other legislative proposals. The law took effect as from the autumn of 2017 and according to it, detainees who stayed in improper conditions benefitted from 6 days of time credits for every 30 days spent in prison. Over 500 detainees were released from prison on the very first day the compensatory appeal law took effect.



    PROTOCOLS – Romanias Constitutional Court on Wednesday accepted the notification sent by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on the existence of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the Public Ministry on the one hand, and Parliament, the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the other courts, on the other, on the issue of the protocols of cooperation with the Romanian Intelligence Service, SRI, in 2009 and 2016. Romanias Constitutional Court admitted that the protocols continue to produce effects, even after they were denounced. Romanias Constitutional Court announced that the prosecutors offices and courts are to establish whether the law was infringed or not, by exceeding competences, in the case of the files based on documents compiled based on the secret protocols between the Public Ministry and SRI. Last year, the head of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Eduard Hellvig, and Romanias Prosecutor General, Augustin Lazar, made public the existence of two legal protocols between the two institutions, on whose existence they had briefed the Superior Council of Magistracy and which were later denounced, as they were no longer necessary.



    SCHENGEN The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu said on Tuesday in Strasbourg that there is no reason to deny Romanias Schengen accession, and voiced hopes that a solution will be reached during the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. He promised that the Romanian presidency will allow for “very open discussions with the countries opposing Romanias entry, and will invite those countries to present the reasons why they are against Romanias inclusion in the visa-free area. “We hope to be as convincing as possible and to reach a solution, Teodor Melescanu added.



    PROTEST – Some of the miners with the Oltenia Energy Compound (in the south-west) continue their strike, being discontent about the 150 Euro pay rise proposed by the company management, but those who had gone on hunger strike gave up on that form of protest. The miners call for 45% pay rises, holiday vouchers and better working conditions. The energy, economy and finance ministers, respectively on Wednesday had an operative meeting with decision makers in the energy field to analyse the effects produced by the miners protest and also to find a solution and unblock the situation. Thermal power plants are currently functioning at normal parameters but they will run out of coal stocks in a few days time and the supplying will not be resumed.



    FLU Nine people have died of the flu in Romania so far. According to the authorities, the 9th victim is a 40-year old man who had previous medical conditions and had not been vaccinated. The man tested positive for the AH1 flu virus. Because of the large number of viral respiratory infections, visitor access has been restricted in many hospitals in the country. Nearly 53,000 respiratory infections and over 100 flu cases have been confirmed since the first week of the year.



    TENNIS The Romanian player Irina Begu (70 WTA) has been defeated by the Czech Petra Kvitova (6 WTA), 1-6, 3-6, in the second round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other Romanians still in the race are world no 1 Simona Halep and Marius Copil. Also on Wednesday, in the womens doubles, the Romanians Irina Maria Bara and Monica Niculescu qualified into the second round, after beating the Spaniards Lara Arruabarrena / Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-1, 6-1. In the next stage they are facing the winners of the match pitting Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) / Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) against Mona Barthel (Germany) / Sofia Kenin (USA). Other Romanians play in the doubles: Irina Begu and Mihaela Buzărnescu, Sorana Cîrstea playing together with Latvias Jelena Ostapenko and Raluca Olaru with Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan). (Translated by AM Popescu and D. Vijeu)

  • The compensatory appeal law and developments in the judiciary

    The compensatory appeal law and developments in the judiciary

    The death of a 25-year old man in Medias, central
    Romania, attacked by three individuals, has once again brought to the forefront
    the talks on the law on compensatory appeal, which led to the early release of
    a large number of convicted prisoners. Statistics show that, between October 2017-November
    2018, some 13,000 people were released from prison, three quarters of them
    benefiting from parole and compensatory appeal. In the meantime, several
    hundreds of those released have committed new violent crimes, including murder,
    attempted murder, rape and burglary. One of them was the very man who stabbed
    the victim in Medias 11 times. He had been released from prison in May last
    year, two years and two months earlier. The second suspect, who also has a
    criminal record, was arrested for 30 days, and is now being prosecuted for murder.

    The third perpetrator is being prosecuted for violent actions. In a very prompt
    reaction, the right-wing opposition in Romania has called for the abrogation of
    the law. The National Liberal Party, the main opposition party in Romania, is preparing
    a bill which would ban violent inmates from benefiting from the compensatory
    appeal. Also, the Liberals will file a motion against the Justice Minister,
    accusing him of destroying the justice system and protecting the criminals. At
    the same time, the opposition Save Romania Union has too decided to submit to
    Parliament a bill for the abrogation of the law, drawing attention to the fact
    that, when the European Court of Human Rights condemned Romania because of the
    poor conditions in Romanian penitentiaries, the recommendation was to modernize
    and expand the system, not to deal with the issue of lack of space by releasing
    prisoners.

    According to the Save Romania Union, the coalition made up of the
    Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats used the
    Court’s ruling to favor criminals. The People’s Movement Party, also in the
    opposition, has announced it will support in Parliament any legal initiative
    that would correct the catastrophic effects of the compensatory appeal law. In
    the opinion of the party’s president, Eugen Tomac, after the crime in Medias, the
    ministers of justice and internal affairs should resign. Justice Minister
    Tudorel Toader, however, has defended himself, saying that the law was an initiative
    of the technocratic government headed by Dacian Ciolos, and the law merely came
    into force during his term. Toader has explained in a post on social media that
    the law was endorsed by the Superior Council of Magistracy and adopted by parliament
    before he took over the office of minister.

    (Translated by M. Ignatescu)