Radio România Internațional

Tag: Justice Minister Florin Iordache

  • June 22, 2018

    June 22, 2018

    SENTENCE – An emergency meeting of the executive board of the Social
    Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition in Romania, is to be
    held today, to discuss the situation created by the president of the party
    Liviu Dragnea being sentenced to prison for instigation to abuse of power by a
    court of first instance. The executive president of the Social Democratic
    Party, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, believes that Dragnea should benefit
    from the presumption of innocence until the final ruling, while the
    vice-president and Interior Minister Carmen Dan claims that the sentence issued
    by the High Court of Cassation and Justice is politically motivated and a
    revenge from those who oppose the reforming of the rule of law. The right-wing
    opposition wants Dragnea to resign from his public offices.








    JUSTICE LAWS – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has sent back for
    reexamination in Parliament the bill that amends and completes the Law on the
    functioning of the Higher Council of the Magistracy. According to Iohannis, the
    bill includes provisions that are contradictory, unclear, as well as references
    to provisions and norms that do not exist. This bill, just like the ones
    regarding judicial organization and the status of judges and prosecutors, is on
    the agenda of the talks that the chairman of the parliamentary committee in
    charge with the laws Florin Iordache will have today and tomorrow at the
    plenary session of the Venice Commission, the advisory body of the Council of Europe in the field of
    constitutional law. Iordache has stated that the three bills are in line with
    the opinions expressed by the Venice Commission and do not affect the
    independence of the judiciary. A Venice Commission delegation has recently paid
    a visit to Bucharest, to analyze the justice laws. Their modification, in the
    form wanted by the coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance
    of Liberals and Democrats has been criticized by the right-wing opposition,
    magistrates’ associations and many civil society voices.






    REVOLUTION CASE – Romania’s President
    Klaus Iohannis has submitted to the Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader the
    request for the criminal prosecution of the retired admiral Emil Cico
    Dumitrescu, investigated for crimes against humanity committed during the 1989
    Revolution. The first post-communist president Ion Iliescu and the former
    prime-minister Petre Roman, as well as his deputy Gelu Voican Voiculescu are
    also being prosecuted in the Revolution case. They allegedly masterminded a
    military diversion, aimed to legitimize them as leaders of the power that took
    over control after the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu attempted to flee,
    a diversion in which many people were wounded and killed and which caused
    significant material damage. 1,166 people died in the events of December 1989,
    800 of them after the toppling of the Ceausescu regime.




    CENTER – The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor has
    announced that a recovery center for soldiers returned from theaters of
    operations abroad will be established near Targoviste, in southern Romania.
    Investment might start next year. The project is an initiative of the Veterans’
    Association and of the Disabled Veterans’ Association.






    MOLDOVA – The Court of Appeal of the Republic of Moldova endorsed on
    Thursday the invalidation of the early elections for the office of mayor of the
    capital Chisinau. The second round of the ballot was won on June 3rd by the
    representative of the pro-European opposition Andrei Nastase, who defeated the
    pro-Russia socialist Ion Ceban. Nastase has announced he will appeal the
    decision to the Supreme Court of Justice and has called for street protests.
    The decisions made by the courts have already triggered protests in the country
    and reactions from the European Union and the US embassy in Chisinau, who have
    called for the appeal procedures to be carried out in a transparent manner. In
    Bucharest, the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu has warned that the
    invalidation of mayoral elections might affect the stability of the republic,
    and the right-wing opposition has voiced support for Nastase. If Nastase’s win
    is not validated by a higher instance, Chisinau will be headed by an interim
    mayor until the local election normally due next year.




    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu,
    ranking 29th in the WTA classification, will today play against the Ukrainian
    Elina Svitolina, no. 5 WTA, in the quarter finals of the Birmingham tournament,
    with 850 thousand dollars in prize money. If she wins, Buzarnescu will take on
    the winner of the match between Petra Kvitova (no.8 WTA) and Julia Goerges (no.
    13 WTA). In the third round of this year’s Roland Garros tournament, Buzarnescu
    defeated Svitolina 2-0.




    BAD WEATHER – The Romanian Meteorological
    Administration has issued a code yellow warning for bad weather, in place on
    Friday for three quarters of the country. Torrential rain, powerful gusts of
    wind and storms will be reported in most regions. For the south and south-east
    of the country, the warning is valid until Saturday morning. The Hydrology
    Institute has too issued a code yellow warning for flooding, affecting the
    counties in the north, center and east, in place until Saturday. Temperatures
    are dropping all over the country, with highs ranging from 19 to 34 degrees.







  • Pardon under public debate

    Pardon under public debate

    The Romanian Government’s plan to pass the draft emergency orders that would grant collective pardon and would revise the Criminal Code has generated public outrage across Romania. The draft ordinances, promoted by the Ministry of Justice, have brought thousands of people to the streets of Bucharest and other cities across the country, who protested at the bills that the Grindeanu Government intended to pass last week.



    Protesters believe that famous defendants and convicts, many of them influential politicians and public figures would thus get out of prison or might ask for their cases to be closed. President Klaus Iohannis himself has stood against these modifications and initiated the procedure for a referendum to be held on this issue. Under the Law on transparent decision-making in public administration, on Monday the Ministry of Justice will hold a public debate on these draft emergency orders.



    A disinformation campaign has created unnecessary tensions, and these emergency orders would not hamper the fight against corruption, said the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu on the public radio: “No act of corruption would be pardoned. Also, the offences committed by murderers or rapists would not be pardoned either. There is no amnesty provision that would entitle suspicions that these ordinances were drafted to serve certain interests, as it has been implied.”



    On the other hand, the main opposition party in Romania, the National Liberal Party, has threatened with a motion of no-confidence if the Government passes the two drafts. Here is the interim president of the party Raluca Turcan: “The Government’s intention to give priority to these emergency orders on pardon and changes to the Criminal Code, instead of focusing on the state budget, proves that it is not interested in the real issues it raised during the election campaign, but only in serving the interest of the people around their group of decision-makers.”



    The Higher Council of Magistracy has advised against these draft orders, but it cannot issue any official ruling, as it is only an advisory body in this matter. In turn, Romania’s Chief Prosecutor Augustin Lazar has said that there is no emergency in passing them: “These emergency orders would do nothing but weaken the Romanian state’s institutional capacity to fight against corruption.”



    Talks over the draft emergency orders regarding collective pardon and changes to the Criminal Code are being held against the background of Romania being one of the top three countries in terms of number of convictions issued by the European Court of Human Rights. According to the Court President Guido Raimondi, most of these convictions are related to prison conditions.


    (Translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)