Radio România Internațional

Tag: Criminal Procedure Code

  • No value threshold for abuse of service

    No value threshold for abuse of service

    Amending the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes is a milestone within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, therefore an obligation assumed by Romania in exchange for the money promised by the European Union. The latest changes target abuse and negligence in the service. Coming from the Senate, where they had triggered a scandal, with the ruling coalition voting for a threshold of 250,000 lei up to which abuse and negligence in the service would not be considered a crime, the bills were drastically amended by the deputies, who eliminated any value threshold . They proceeded in this way, although the Ministry of Justice had proposed, according to the version adopted by the Senate and blamed by the opposition and the press, a much lower threshold, of 9,000 lei, from which the two acts would have been criminalized.



    Successive thinking and unthinking within the coalition, promptly criticized by the opposition parties, eventually led to the removal of the threshold for abuse of office. Thus, according to the article, the act of the civil servant who does not perform an act provided by a law or performs it in violation of a provision included in such a normative act, causing damage or an injury to the rights or legitimate interests of a natural or legal person is punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 7 years and loses the right to hold a public office. The threshold for negligence in the service was also removed, in which case the sanction is either imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years, or a fine. The absence of any value threshold could raise problems of unconstitutionality. The Court had previously established that a value threshold for the criminalization of the act is necessary, as long as a damage caused by the said act is calculated.



    Amending the Criminal Procedure Code has the potential to generate controversy too. The reason is that the possibility of using interceptions made by the specialized services as evidence in the case of several offenses, including tax evasion and corruption, has been maintained. Although part of the coalition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania abstained from voting in this case. The leader of the party, Kelemen Hunor, said that the intelligence services have nothing to do with the criminal process. If the Romanian Intelligence Service has a role in the criminal process, we can no longer talk about independent justice and we are going back 10 years ago, the UDMR leader warned. The matter deserved a serious debate in Parliament. For years, the services have been accused by all parties of being involved in the political game, of opening cases that could compromise one politician or another. And the use as evidence in corruption processes of records obtained by services through specific means risks fueling suspicions on this topic. (MI)


  • The new Criminal Procedure Code, passed by Parliament

    The new Criminal Procedure Code, passed by Parliament


    The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest passed
    on Monday some controversial changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, after last
    week the Senate had done the same. Among the new amendments is the one
    according to which in the case of trials resulting in acquittals, defendants
    can be retried only if new evidence is introduced.






    A separate amendment states that authorities will be forbidden from
    making public any kind of information about persons or charges included in
    criminal cases during the prosecution and trial stages. In addition, the preventive arrest measure
    can be ordered only if there is solid evidence or clues. Deputies also
    decided that a criminal investigation should not last longer than one year and
    if prosecutors can’t send someone to
    Court within a year, the case is automatically closed.






    Another amendment says that denouncements will
    result in reduced sentences only if they are made within a year since the
    alleged deed was committed. The head of the special Parliament committee that
    oversees the changes to the justice laws, Florin Iordache, has said that the
    changes to these laws, the Criminal Procedure Code included, are aimed at
    eliminating abuse in Romania.






    Florin Iordache: The
    presentation of some people wearing handcuffs, who have eventually been proven
    to be innocent, is something that should no longer be allowed. In terms of
    allocation of cases, it should be done randomly. We want the replacement of the
    reasonable doubt sintagm with strong
    evidence and clues. We live in a real Romania. Cases are being built entirely
    on clues and then, after three years of investigation, the person is acquitted.
    Does anyone make up for the tension, the sleepless nights and the stress that
    person went through? No.








    The Save
    Romania Union and the National Liberal Party, in the opposition, have announced
    they will appeal the law at the Constitutional Court because some of its
    provisions endanger the act of justice. Among the amendments contested by the
    opposition are the ones stipulating that a recording obtained in a private
    space can no longer be used as evidence, that the defendant must be informed on
    all the evidence collected against him, that the witness is allowed to refuse a
    hearing without any reason and the fact that in the case of trials resulting in acquittals defendants
    can be retried only if new evidence is introduced. The head of the National
    Liberal Party (PNL), Raluca Turcan, has said:








    Raluca Turcan: In fact you reinvent all
    legal principles that I learnt during the law classes. This is the reason why
    there are higher Courts and means of appeal and rulings. You have decided that
    one court is enough, and that you can even negotiate.






    The draft law will be sent to President
    Klaus Iohannis to sign it into law only after the Constitutional Court has had its
    say on the appeals filed by the Opposition.









  • Senate adopts changes to Criminal Procedure Code

    Senate adopts changes to Criminal Procedure Code


    With 74 yes and 28 no votes, on Wednesday the Romanian Senate passed a bill to amend the Criminal Procedure Code. The bill, which was initiated by the ruling Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, was rejected by the MPs of the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, both in opposition. The senators approved all amendments proposed in a report by the special committee for the justice laws chaired by the Social Democrat Florin Iordache. The bill puts the code in agreement with 18 rulings of the Constitutional Court and transposes into the national legislation two European Union directives on the presumption of innocence and extended confiscation.



    Another change refers to the destruction of recordings used as evidence that have been obtained illegally. One of the most controversial amendments stipulates that a retrial may be requested if the judge has not signed or edited the text of the ruling. The opposition has criticised the amendments to the Code, saying they change the paradigm as far as the criminal legislation is concerned. What this means is that while the victim was in the centre of attention until now, from now on, says the opposition, the criminal will be the focus of the policy.



    The Liberal senator Alina Gorghiu says the amendments will turn things upside down in the field:


    “Most of these changes are solutions meant to slow down the activity of courts of law and prosecutors offices and which, obviously, within a very short period of time, if they come into force, will completely upset the activity of the judicial bodies and irreversibly weaken the justice system in Romania.”



    The Social Democrats have rejected the accusations of the opposition saying that the prolonged and transparent discussions in the special parliamentary committee have led to amendments that harmonise the legislation with rulings of the Constitutional Court and European Union directives.



    The chairman of the Senates legal committee, the Social Democrat Robert Cazanciuc:


    “I dont think we have a choice, at least not we, from the Social Democratic Party. If the National Liberal Party wants to choose not to comply with the rulings of the Constitutional Court, weve seen theyve been trying to do that recently. Were trying to find solutions to comply with the rulings of the Constitutional Court. We cant be passive and do nothing, because we would be at odds with the very purpose of this committee. We have made the choice not to treat fundamental rights as a whim.”



    After the Senates adoption of the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, the bill will next be debated by the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body on this matter. (translated by Cristina Mateescu)


  • June 13, 2018 UPDATE

    June 13, 2018 UPDATE

    ROMANIAN- FINNISH RELATIONS – Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, on Wednesday received in Bucharest the visiting Finnish Foreign minister, Timo Soini. According to the Presidential Administration, the president underlined the need to boost bilateral relations both at political and economic level. Klaus Iohannis has also expressed confidence that the two sides will boost dialogue, in the run up to the two countries holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council in 2019. The agenda of talks has also covered such issues as the stage of preparations for the NATO summit due in Brussels in July, the European path of the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population) as well as the Iranian and North-Korean nuclear files, the Romanian Presidency has also announced.



    PRESIDENCY OF THE EU COUNCIL – Romanias Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has been invited to present before Parliament, on June 20, the stage of the preparation process for Romanias taking over the half-yearly rotating presidency of the EU Council in January 2019. The debates occasioned by the event could provide a considerable support in the governments process of drawing up and implementing the first blueprint of a presidencys working roadmap – the head of the Romanian government has added. The Romanian official believes the presidency of the EU Council will be an opportunity for Romania to prove its ability to contribute significantly, through a powerful vision and a relevant administrative capacity, to re-launching the European project.



    WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2018 – Over 80% of Romanias under-performing schools are located in the countrys rural areas, with a graduation rate in the tertiary education that exceeds 25.6%, the EUs lowest, the World Development Report 2018 issued by the World Bank shows. According to the document, made public in Bucharest on Wednesday by the World Bank lead economist and co-author of the World Development Report 2018, Halsey Rogers, the differences between the drop-out rates are contrastive; the rural drop-out rate stays at 26.6%, whereas the drop-out rate in the cities is around 6.2%. Romania needs to invest more intelligently in education, the report also points out. The World Bank recommends competence assessment in Romanias case as employers are presently deploring the shortage of key social-emotional competences, such as motivation, teamwork and responsibility. Graduates from Romanias higher education system are generally perceived as owners of exclusively theoretical knowledge while graduates from the countrys vocational training system have only developed obsolete competences.



    COMMEMORATION- Romania is these days commemorating 28 years since the violent events, which are now known as the Miners Raid on Bucharest over June 13-15, 1990. The raid put an end to a large-scale protest rally against the left-wing government, which had come to power after the demise of the communist regime in Romania. Against the background of some violent events in the capital Bucharest, which the army troops had already managed to contain, the then president Ion Iliescu invoked an attempted coup by the far right political forces and called on the citizens to defend Romanias democratic institutions. The Jiu Valley miners in central Romania came to Bucharest and stormed the University building, the head offices of the opposition parties as well as of some independent publications. Four people were killed and over one thousand abusively arrested. Romanias international image was seriously tarnished by the violent events of 1990. A court file on the Miners Raid was reopened in 2015 and the General Prosecutors Office sent to court several high-ranking officials such as the then president Ion Iliescu, former Prime Minister Petre Roman and the then head of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Virgil Magureanu, who are charged with crimes against humanity.



    CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE – The Romanian Senate, in its capacity as first notified parliamentary chamber in this case, on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to amend the Criminal Procedure Code. The draft, initiated by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, in the ruling coalition, has not been endorsed by representatives of the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition. The Senators have approved all modifications proposed by the report issued by the Special Committee on the Justice Laws, led by Florin Iordache. The draft is aimed to transpose the EU directive on the presumption of innocence into the national legislation. One of the changes refers to the destruction of evidence collected by making illegal recordings. The draft will be sent for debate to the Chamber of Deputies, which is decision making body in this case.


    TALKS -The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced that it held talks with Ukrainian officials on the searches recently conducted at the “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi Romanian Cultural Centre in Cernauti, western Ukraine. Emphasis was laid, during the talks, on the observance of the rights of the Romanian minority living in Ukraine. In a meeting held at the Romanian Foreign Ministry on Monday, the Ukrainian ambassador to Bucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, was requested to provide additional information on how the aforementioned searches had been conducted, Romanian diplomacy sources say. Bucharest calls on the Ukrainian authorities to ensure the observance of the Romanian minoritys rights and avoid any actions which could lead to the violation of these rights or which could be interpreted as elements of intimidation. These specifications come after Ukraines Security Service (SBU) has announced that it is investigating the board of the cultural centre for what it describes as “appeals to encroach upon the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Romanians are living in the neighbouring country, most of them on the Romanian territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state in 1991.(Translated by D. Bilt and D. Vijeu)

  • Amending Criminal Legislation

    Amending Criminal Legislation

    The Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code were amended and completed by the Romanian government through an emergency ordinance on Wednesday. According to the technocratic government, the measure was necessary to put the two documents in line with some Constitutional Court rulings. Several EU laws in the field also had to be included in the newly amended package, as Dan Suciu, spokesman for the government explains.



    Dan Suciu: “Naturally this law inclusion should have been done in 45 days. Some were under discussion in Parliament and waited to be endorsed. The government decided to issue this emergency ordinance, which comprises a part of the amendments already discussed in Parliament that were still to be voted upon, as well as some others related to the recommendations of the Constitutional Court.



    According to Suciu, since the new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes came into force, there have been no less than 15 Constitutional Court rulings with a major impact on these laws. For instance, the latest ruling was that a prosecutors interrupting a criminal investigation without the courts control and approval is tantamount to the improper use of prerogative powers. Under the new legislation child molesters will be spending more years behind bars. The new legislation provides for tougher penalties for theft and fraud as well as for cyber crime. If the prejudice exceeds 450 thousand euros, the prison sentence will increase by 50%. There is no predictability in the act of justice in the absence of legislative stability, Justice Minister Raluca Pruna, in whose opinion, major pending issues are being solved through government emergency.



    In turn, judge Horatius Dumbrava writes on his Facebook page that by the immediate endorsement of the emergency ordinance, a wide public debate is being missed. The magistrate questions the governments right to undermine the Parliaments legislative prerogatives by resorting to this practice in a Parliamentary democracy. He also comes up with a possible answer: the Legislature is the one which passed the new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, whose texts have often been declared unconstitutional. As the MPs cannot be held accountable for passivity, is the government to be blamed for having resorted to an emergency ordinance to settle the issue?