Radio România Internațional

Tag: DUI

  • Parliament passes tougher legislation

    Parliament passes tougher legislation

     

    The bill introducing tougher penalties for driving under the influence has been passed by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, the decision-making body in this respect. The document also bans the postponement of prison sentences for manslaughter in DUI cases.

     

    Once the new legislation takes effect, apart from the sentence drivers caught in traffic under the influence of alcohol or other psychoactive substances will also be banned from driving vehicles for a period of up to 10 years, as opposed to up to 5 years at present, explains the Social Democratic Senator Robert Cazanciuc, who tabled the bill.

     

    The penalty will only apply for motorists caught driving with blood alcohol content of over 0.08, which is the level above which such infringements are treated as criminal offences. Moreover, when DUI traffic accidents kill people, the penalty will range between 15 and 25 years behind bars. Under the same law, drivers caught in possession of banned substances will no longer receive fines, but prison sentences.

     

    The document amends the Anastasia Act, which took effect last year, and which introduces prison sentences without suspension for DUI-manslaughter. The law was named after Anastasia, a 4-year old girl killed in 2022 by a driver without a license. The list of high-risk drugs has also been updated to include 6 new synthetic substances.

     

    Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies has also passed a law forcing fugitives that attempt to escape prosecution or prison to cover the judicial costs of their repatriation, more specifically, the expenses incurred by the government for their extradition.

     

    According to the justice minister Alina Gorghiu, the costs for each person brought back to Romania to serve their sentences may reach as much as EUR 25,000, currently covered by the government, and the number of fugitives rises from one year to the next.

     

    The law applies for persons subject to European arrest warrants and to those who have left the European Union and with respect to whom extradition procedures are in place.

     

    The former mayor general of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, the former chief of the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences Alina Bica, the son of the Professional Football League president Mario Iorgulescu and prince Paul Philippe (grandson of the Romanian King Carol II) are just a few examples of high-profile fugitives who left Romania for countries like Italy and Greece after being sentenced in the country.

     

    Romania has been struggling for years to bring some of them back to the country, but without success. (AMP)

  • Higher sentences for DUI offenders

    Higher sentences for DUI offenders

    The Senate in Bucharest has almost unanimously endorsed an amendment to the Criminal Code, under which the people driving under the influence of alcohol or other banned substances, as well as those found without a driving license will receive jail sentences if they are involved in an accident with victims. About 100 people are losing their lives every year in road accidents caused by these categories of drivers in Romania, a country ranking for the fifth year in a row first in Europe in terms of the people killed in traffic accidents.


    Every year almost 20 thousand people are being sent to courts for driving without a license or under the influence. Initiated by Robert Cazanciuc, PSD Senator and former Justice Minister and endorsed by a group of PNL and PSD MPs, the bill was reintroduced in the Parliamentary circuit in November 2022.


    According to the initiator, “the bill was rejected by the decision-making chamber in 2019, out of absurd political reasons in defiance of the societys general interest in the real protection of life and putting an end to the carnage on Romanias motorways, including through higher punishment aimed at preventing such deeds”. Senator Cazanciuc says that he dedicates this legislative initiative to the memory of Anastasia, the little girl, who in 2022, right on Childrens Day and at the age of only four, was killed by a woman who was driving a vehicle at high speed without having a driving license.


    Cazanciuc has announced his intention to propose a new amendment to the Traffic Code so that drivers who have killed people in traffic accidents may get a life-time suspension of their driving license.


    “Let us be clearly understood. I dont want anyone to go to prison, but if somebody did, that means that somebody else died. And this is an alarm signal for all of us. When we are seeing someone at a party who has consumed banned substances we must prevent them from getting behind the wheel. This law isnt enough, well also have to amend the Traffic Code so that those who have done such deeds may never again get behind the wheel.” According to the 2021 activity report of the Public Ministry, the number of offenders sent to court after being involved in deadly car accidents increased significantly as compared to the year 2020, from 396 to 473. The Liberals have also endorsed the law adding that this is a signal for responsibility – as in situations like these, the judge will not be able to suspend the sentence. And before sitting behind the wheel, people will have to think, if something goes wrong, Ill go straight to jail. The document will be further submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, which is a decision-making forum in this case.


    (bill)