Radio România Internațional

Tag: criminal complaints

  • September 21, 2018

    September 21, 2018

    POLITICS – The leaders of the Social Democratic Party in power in Romania convene today, after a few top-level members signed an open letter requesting the resignation of Liviu Dragnea as president of the party and as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. The authors of the letter claim Dragneas legal problems have turned into a major weakness for the party, particularly considering the forthcoming European Parliament and presidential elections due in 2019 and local and legislative elections scheduled for 2020. The signatories also request that PM Viorica Dǎncilă, the executive president of the Social Democratic Party, should act as interim president until the party holds a special congress. The president of the Social Democratic Party may only be elected and dismissed by the party members, in congress.




    INDICTMENT – The chief of the Romanian Gendarme Forces, col. Ionuţ Cătălin Sindile, and senior deputy chief col. Gheorghe Sebastian Cucoş, have been indicted today in relation to the anti-governmental protest of August 10th in Bucharest. They are investigated for complicity to abuse of office. The General Prosecutors Office has also summoned as suspects in this case major Laurenţiu Cazan, the chief of the Bucharest Gendarme Directorate, and chief commissioner Mihai Dan Chirică, secretary of state with the Interior Ministry. We remind you that during the August 10th protests violent clashes took place between the participants and the gendarmes, and the latter used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Military prosecutors started a criminal investigation into the gendarme intervention. As many as 770 people filed criminal complaints. The interior minister Carmen Dan has recently stated that the protest was approached as an event posing risks to public order, and that the gendarme intervention was lawful.




    PENSIONS – The Government of Romania has discussed a new pension bill with representatives of trade unions and employer associations. This was the first 3-party meeting on the topic, organised in line with a special calendar agreed on for the endorsement of this law. PM Viorica Dăncilă says the new pension law will first and foremost address inequities in the public system. While the deputy president of the Romanian Employers Association Dan Matei Aghaton announced the organisation supports the new bill, the trade union leader Bogdan Hossu pointed out that some aspects, such as special working conditions, unfair employee penalties, and minimum wage increases, will have to be regulated by means of further pieces of legislation.




    ADOPTIONS – The Government of Romania has earmarked additional funds for child protection and has taken measures to encourage adoption. The goal is to step up the procedure for and extend the period in which a child is regarded as adoptable, and to reduce red tape in the field. New financial incentives have also been introduced. The adoption process in Romania is rather complex, and the country ranks among the last in Europe with only 800 adoptions per year, although the number of abandoned children is around 55,000.




    MEDAL – Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, is to award today the “Nihil Sine Deo royal decoration to the US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm. Just like the King Michael I Loyalty Medal and the Cross of the Royal House of Romania, ‘Nihil Sine Deo’ is granted by decision of the chief of the Royal House. It was introduced in 2009 and it may be granted to leading social, scientific, educational, cultural, spiritual, economic, political and military personalities. The medal can also be awarded to Romanian or foreign current and former ambassadors having made a noteworthy contribution to Romanias international relations.




    BUCHAREST – This weekend, the Days of the City of Bucharest will be marking 559 years since the Romanian capital was first mentioned in official records, as well as 100 years since the Union of December 1, 1918, when Romanian provinces were united into a nation state. Major international musicians were invited to perform in the city, including pan flute player Gheorghe Zamfir on Friday and pop-rock star Rod Stewart on Sunday. On Saturday, the worlds best multimedia artists will display spectacular light and laser shows on the walls of the Parliament Palace. A symphonic concert and multimedia show opened the Bucharest Days series on Thursday night, when the fountains in the Union Square were reopened, after extensive revamping works. Built in the late ‘80s under the communist regime, the fountain system downtown Bucharest is one of the longest in the world, 1.4 km, with 16,200 m² water surface area.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • August 20, 2018

    August 20, 2018

    INVESTIGATION — Hearings will be made today at the Prosecutor General’s Office in connection with the anti-government meeting organised by the Romanians living abroad, on August 10. We recall the military prosecutors have opened a criminal case for such crimes as abusive conduct, abuse of office and professional misconduct, regarding the way in which the gendarmes intervened during the protest. The Interior Minister Carmen Dan has apologised to all those who suffered because of violence. The opposition considers however that minister Dan should have resigned.



    DNA — The Romanian justice minister, Tudorel Toader, has today announced that no prosecutor has applied for the position of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. Candidacies can be submitted by August 24, and the new procedure should be finalised by September 6. This is a new selection organised by the Justice Ministry, after Tudorel Toader rejected all the four candidacies that had been submitted. The minister is optimistic that there will be a candidate for this position until the deadline expires. The position of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate has become vacant after Laura Codruţa Kövesi was revoked by a decree issued on July 9 by President Klaus Iohannis, who implemented a decision by the Constitutional Court.



    PEASANT CIVILISATION – Săpânţa, in the northern Romanian county of Maramureş, which has been designated the Peasant Cultural Capital of the Romanian around the world, has been the venue for a cultural project titled “The United Villages of Romania”. The project has been carried out jointly with Radio Romania. This annual meeting of villages, this year devoted to the Great Union Centennial, has been attended by 800 artists, singers and folk groups from 30 county capitals, as well as from the Romanian communities around the world. The initiator of the project is an Irishman who has been living in Romania for 24 years, Peter Hurley. He says he has been impressed by the fact that the old Romanian civilisation is surviving wherever there are Romanians.



    GREECE — After the debt crisis which has reduced its GDP by 25% and prompted it to take tough austerity measures, Greece is today completing a three year financial aid program. Loans worth 70 billion dollars have been granted to Greece under the European Stability Mechanism to support the Greek government’s efforts to reform the country’s struggling economy and for the recapitalisation of banks. The Greek government wants to implement a series of laws with a social impact, although deep going reforms of the social welfare system and of the fiscal system will not be started right away, news agencies report. Economists claim the Greek state has gone past the critical threshold, but the population will still have to make savings and carry the burden of austerity measures for many years to come.



    TENNIS— Romanian Simona Halep, no.1 WTA, has been defeated by the Dutch Kiki Bertens, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2, in the finals of the Cincinnati tennis tournament, with 2,874,299 USD dollars in prize money up for grabs. This is the third final that Simona Halep lost in Cincinnati in the past four years, but thanks to this result, she will remain no.1 WTA for at least three weeks. The Cincinnati final was the 33rd in Simona Halep’s career, who boasts 18 titles.

  • August 15, 2018 UPDATE

    August 15, 2018 UPDATE

    PROTESTS – The head prosecutor with the Military Prosecutor’s
    Office in Bucharest, Ionel Corbu, said that the gendarmes’ intervention during
    Friday’s anti-Government protest was by no means justified, as long as there
    were several alternatives to quell the violent protesters. Ionel Corbu said the
    Military Prosecutor’s Office has received from the Romanian Gendarmes Service
    part of the documents it has requested, namely the action plan, the
    intervention plan and the operation log, adding however that no documents were
    received regarding the amount of tear gas used in the protests. The Bucharest
    Gendarme service said the tear gas used by the riot police was purchased from
    licensed manufacturers and that it is currently being used all over Europe. Military
    prosecutors continue to investigate the forceful intervention of the riot
    police on August 10 and are now looking into possible charges of abuse of
    office and actionable negligence. So far 200 people have filed criminal complaints.




    FEAST DAY – Orthodox and Eastern Catholic
    Christians in Romania on Wednesday celebrated the Assumption of Mary, the
    bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life.
    Churches and monasteries in Romania held special services on this occasion
    while thousands of Christians went on pilgrimage. Some 2.2 million Romanians
    celebrated their name day on Wednesday.




    NAVY DAY – August 15 is also Romanian
    Navy Day, as Saint Mary is also the patron saint of sailors. This year
    ceremonies were held in Constanta, Galati, Mangalia, Tulcea, Braila, Bucuresti
    and Cernavoda on this occasion. Attending the events were thousands of navy
    military, scores of warships and numerous aircraft. The largest naval show was
    held in Constanta, the largest Romanian port on the Black Sea. The guard of
    honor and brigades of Romanian military, alongside peers from Great Britain,
    the United States and Ukraine paraded on the waterfront before the fleet
    command. Attending the ceremonies, President Klaus Iohannis said Romania cannot
    truly be a powerful player in the region without a powerful army, which should
    include a well-equipped, well-trained and modern navy, capable to successfully
    withstand any challenge. The President went on to say that, as a sign of
    appreciation for the activity and special achievements of the Naval Forces, he
    has decorated the war flag of the Romanian Naval Forces with the Maritime
    Virtue Order in rank of Officer, as a sign of military peace. Defense Minister
    Mihai Fifor told the navy military that their responsibilities are key to
    securing the eastern flank of NATO and the EU. Fifor recalled that 2018, the
    year marking 100 years since the Great Union, will be a landmark for the
    military navy by means of the modernization program carried out to strengthen
    the immediate response capacity of the Romanian Naval Forces and to consolidate
    Romania’s position in the Black Sea region.




    ACCIDENT – President Klaus Iohannis has expressed his condolences
    for the families of the victims of Tuesday’s collapse of a motorway bridge
    close to Genoa, which killed dozens of people, including two Romanian
    nationals, a Presidency report reads. The President also conveyed his
    condolences to his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella and to the Italian
    authorities. According to the Foreign Ministry, operations to extract the
    victims from the rubble are ongoing. A mobile consular team is on scene. Some
    250 firefighters and scores of search and rescue teams continue to look for
    survivors. According to our correspondent in Rome, 440 people were evacuated
    from 11 apartment buildings in the vicinity. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe
    Conte also visited the crash site, ensuring citizens the whole road
    infrastructure in Italy will be inspected to prevent such tragedies from
    happening.




    CAMPAIGN – The signature-gathering campaign entitled
    No criminally-prosecuted people in public office has so far raised over 800
    thousand signatures and is bound to continue until the end of the month, the
    president of Save Romania Union Dan Barna told the press on Wednesday. The set
    target is to gather 1 million signatures. This citizen initiative aimed at
    revising the Constitutions so that no person with a final criminal sentence can
    hold public office.




    MEETING – National Defense Minister Mihai Fifor on
    Wednesday met with his Moldovan counterpart, Eugeniu Sturza, on the sidelines
    of the Romanian Navy Day ceremonies held in Constanta. The two officials
    highlighted the good bilateral cooperation in the field of defense, also
    agreeing on enhanced cooperation as regards military medicine and education. As
    regards cooperation within NATO, Minister Fifor told Minister Sturza that
    Romania would continue to support Moldova’s efforts to join NATO.




    RAF – Six Russian bombers were intercepted over the Black Sea by British
    fighter jets deployed to Romania, charged with the security of NATO airspace, a
    Royal Air Force press release reads. Eurofighter Typhoon jets took off on
    Monday from Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in southeastern Romania, after six
    Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer bombers were detected in NATO airspace over the Black Sea.
    The Russian aircraft were headed to Crimea. The operation was part of NATO air
    policing operations with support from the Royal Air Force, aimed at deterring
    Russian aggression and enforcing Great Britain’s commitment to NATO collective
    defense. Romania’s Defense Minister Mihai Fifor last month said such challenges
    from Moscow are quite frequent.




    FOOTBALL – Three Romanian football teams are on
    Thursday competing in the second round of the Champions League third
    preliminary round. All matches are played on home turf. CFR Cluj is playing
    Alashkert of Armenia and is sitting on a 2-nil away win in the first leg. FCSB
    will take on Croatia’s Hajduk Split, after drawing nil-all in the first leg,
    while Romanian Cup winner CSU Craiova is playing RB Leipzig. Craiova lost 1-3
    in the first leg.






    (Translated by V. Palcu)