Radio România Internațional

Tag: prison pardon

  • 28 January 2017, UPDATE

    28 January 2017, UPDATE

    2017 budget. The draft budget for 2017 will be discussed
    on Tuesday by the government after a meeting of the Country’s Supreme Defence
    Council called by president Klaus Iohannis on Friday to approve the draft
    budget of national security institutions proposed by the government. Prime
    minister Sorin Grindeanu explained that his cabinet’s wish was for the new
    budget to cover all measures contained in the governing programme and that the
    fact that certain institutions may receive less money does not threaten their
    activity. The 2017 budget is based on a 5.2% economic growth rate, while the
    budget deficit is estimated at 2.96% of the GDP.




    Merkel-Iohannis. German
    chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday called Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis to
    express her support for the continuation of the fight against corruption in
    Romania. She also voiced her concern about the possibility that certain actions
    may affect the country’s efforts to combat this phenomenon. President Iohannis
    assured the German chancellor that he was firmly committed to continuing the
    fight against corruption in Romania with a view to building a mature and solid
    democracy. The president said that, at regional level, Romania remains a
    reliable partner and one of the most important pillars of stability. He said
    that, in the context of complex crises at international level, Romanian-German
    cooperation has become very dynamic, both within the European Union and NATO, a
    trend that must continue. During their telephone conversation, the two leaders
    also spoke about the excellent stage of the special strategic relationship
    between their countries and the consolidation and deepening of bilateral
    political dialogue, as well as enhancing coordination on European matters.




    Prison pardon. The president of the Democratic Union of
    Ethnic Hungarians in Romania Kelemen Hunor said any change to the criminal and
    criminal procedure codes must be made in Parliament, in keeping with the
    decisions of the Constitutional Court, and not by government’s calling for a
    vote of confidence or by its issuing an emergency ordinance. Hunor said it was
    also Parliament that must decide in the matter of prison pardon and when such a
    measure should be made. The justice ministry will hold a public debate on
    Monday on the draft emergency ordinances on pardon and the amendment of the
    criminal and criminal procedure codes. The right-wing opposition, civil
    society, the main judicial institutions and magistrates organisations have
    described the proposals as ill-timed. The justice ministry says however that
    collective pardoning and certain changes to the criminal laws are necessary to
    ease prison overcrowding, something the European Court of Human Rights has
    criticised, and to comply with certain decisions of the Constitutional Court.
    The government has been accused of trying to lift the convictions of influential
    persons from politics and the administration.


    Trump immigration. A number of American civil rights
    groups, including the powerful American Civil Liberties Union, filed legal
    action on Saturday challenging an executive order by US president Donald Trump
    banning entry to the US of nationals of a number of Muslim-majority countries.
    On Friday, Trump announced a tougher legal framework for immigration and
    refugee admission to prevent what he called radical Islamic terrorists from
    entering the US. Trump banned the entry of Syrian refugees until further
    notice. He also halted the issuing of visas for the citizens of seven
    Muslim-majority countries, namely Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and
    Yemen, for three months. Rights groups
    have immediately condemned the
    measures. The United Nations has
    called on Trump to continue the US’s long tradition of protecting those who
    are fleeing conflict and persecution and not to distinguish on account of
    race, religion and nationality.

    Handball. CSM Bucharest, the European defending champion in women’s
    handball, drew 26-all at home against the Norwegian side Larvik HK in a
    Champions League group match on Friday. CSM will next face the Slovenian side RK Krim Mercator on the 4th
    of February in Ljubljana. The latter lost on Saturday to the Hungarian side ETO
    Gyor, the leader of the group with 8 points. Krim are in the second position
    with 6 points, followed by Larvik with 5, the Danish side FC Midtjlland with 4,
    CSM Bucharest with 3 points and another Danish side, Team Esbjerg, with 2
    points.

  • The Week in Review: January 23-27

    The Week in Review: January 23-27

    A new CVM report for Romania.


    The Cooperation
    and Verification Mechanism (CVM) monitoring reform of the judiciary and the
    fight against corruption remains in place this year. Released on Wednesday, the
    European Commission report highlights the positive trends and the irreversible
    character of the measures taken so far in this respect. In the past 10 years of
    EU membership, despite the slowdowns, Romania has reported major progress in
    the field of the judiciary, the report reads. The European Commission has made
    however a series of country-specific recommendations, which Bucharest must
    implement in order to see the CVM lifted. These include the implementation of a
    robust and independent system for appointing top-level prosecutors, the
    inclusion of clear provisions in the Code of Conduct for parliamentarians,
    which is currently being developed, including with regard to the mutual respect
    among institutions and making clear that parliamentarians should respect the
    independence of the judiciary. The Commission also recommends the full
    implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. President Klaus
    Iohannis has hailed the fact that the Commission report acknowledges Romania’s
    progress and has warned against the concerns the report mentions with respect
    to the two draft emergency ordinances on collective pardon and amending the
    Criminal Code, which the government wants to pass.




    The collective pardon ordinance and the
    referendum


    The Government’s
    plans to adopt two emergency ordinances on granting collective pardon and
    amending the Criminal Code have prompted President Klaus Iohannis to launch
    procedures this week with respect to holding a referendum, whereby citizens can
    vote in favour or against continuing the fight against corruption and securing
    the integrity of public office. The Social-Democratic Party, the largest party
    in the current ruling coalition, claims the president’s decision is but a
    political ruse aimed at regaining popular support after opposition parties lost
    the legislative elections. The National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union
    have voiced their support for the President’s initiative. On Sunday, Klaus
    Iohannis took part in a large-scale protest held in Bucharest against the
    Government’s planned measures. Protests were also staged in other cities across
    the country. The government is suspected of trying to use these emergency
    ordinances to help corrupt people avoid prison sentences or partially
    decriminalise abuse of office. Instead, the Government claims the ordinances
    are needed to ease overcrowding in prisons and to harmonise the criminal law
    with Constitutional Court rulings.




    President Iohannis travels to Strasbourg


    Romania’s
    president Klaus Iohannis this week paid an official two-day visit to
    Strasbourg, where he discussed, among other things, about pardoning and amnesty
    with the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Guido Raimondi. The
    President told an ensuing press conference that no pressure or threats were
    made to hand Romania an 80-million-dollar fine with regard to overcrowding in
    Romania’s prisons. A pilot decision of the Court will be made public within the
    first half of 2017 and is expected to highlight the problems and set a deadline
    allowing Romania to come up with a solution. Pardoning, the president argues,
    is but one possible solution to this problem. On the other hand, according to a
    European Court of Human Rights report, Romania ranks 3rd, after
    Russia and Turkey, in terms of the highest number of convictions issued by the
    European Court of Human Rights, most of which refer to inadequate confinement
    conditions. The president of the European Court of Human Rights, Guido
    Raimondi, said these problems are recurrent and require complex measures.




    The Romanian Intelligence Service and
    parliamentary control


    The Romanian
    Intelligence Service (SRI) will adopt a code of professional conduct for its
    employees, which is to be published in the Official Journal over the next few
    days, the Romanian Intelligence Service chief Eduard Hellvig has announced. At
    the end of seven-hour-long hearings before Parliament’s Committee on the
    control of the SRI’s activity, Hellvig said the document would shed light on
    cases of incompatibilities affecting the relationship between intelligence
    officers and various politicians, public servants and business people. The
    Romanian Intelligence chief added that the institution he runs has been the
    target of unprecedented attacks this past week, but it would not be involved in
    power plays. The decision comes in the wake of a major scandal involving
    General Florian Coldea, who has served as Deputy First director of the Romanian
    Intelligence Service for 12 years. Former MP Sebastian Ghita, currently a
    fugitive wanted in a criminal investigation, made serious accusations against
    Coldea. Following an internal investigation, General Coldea was found innocent
    but he still decided to resign his position. SRI Chief Eduard Hellvig called on
    the President to placed him in the reserve.




    Romanian producer gets Oscar nomination


    Ada Solomon has
    this week become the first Romanian film producer ever nominated for the
    Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category, for the feature Toni Erdmann directed by Maren Ade of
    Germany. Shot in Romania for the most part, the feature is the only film of
    2016 to be included by BBC Culture among the 100 greatest films of the 21st
    century. Toni Erdmann premiered this
    year in Cannes, where it scooped the FIPRESCI International Film Critics’ award
    in the main competition.



  • Thousands take to the streets in Romania

    Thousands take to the streets in Romania

    Thousands
    of people again took to the streets on Sunday evening demanding the government
    made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and
    Democrats (ALDE) to scrap their draft emergency orders that would grant
    collective pardon and decriminalise some offences. According to the drafts, the
    government intends to pardon convicts sentenced to less than five years for
    committing certain crimes and cut sentences by half for all prisoners aged over
    60. The pardon might be conditioned on the payment of damages set by Courts within
    one year after the offender is released from prison. The draft emergency orders
    also bring changes to the criminal codes. They stipulate that denouncers will
    no longer be exempt from criminal responsibility unless they file their
    denouncement within six months after the offence was committed. Moreover, the
    act of abuse of power causing financial damage of less than 50,000 euros will
    be decriminalised.




    The Social Democratic
    Justice Minister, Florin Iordache, says that these emergency orders are needed in
    order to ease overcrowding in prisons, as there are by nine thousand inmates
    more than the prisons’ capacity and in order to comply with Constitutional
    Court’s decisions. Iordache reminded that Romania had already been sentenced at
    the European Court of Human Rights for what it defined as the inhumane
    conditions in Romanian prisons. The Justice Minister also said that 2,500
    prisoners would be released if the law were passed.




    The country’s prosecutor
    general, the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, the Supreme Court, and the chief
    of the directorate fighting organised crime, as well as magistrates’
    associations and civil rights groups are firmly against the move and the
    intention to legislate through decrees instead of going through parliament. The
    latter have argued that there is a lack of transparency as to the legal
    framework regarding offences such as corruption, abuse of power and integrity.




    In the city of Cluj, in the
    south-west, in Ploiesti, in the south, in Timisoara in the west and in the
    north-eastern city of Iasi, the general state of mind is outrage:




    I for one, as a young
    member of the Romanian nation, find it abnormal that individuals who stole
    from the state and who have received court sentences be freed.




    I don’t have anything against
    freeing people who have stolen a chicken and some canned food, because thy
    didn’t have anything to eat, but not offenders who have robbed this country.




    Around 30,000 people marched on the streets of the capital Bucharest
    stopping in front of the government headquarters and the offices of the
    coalition parties. Protesters chanted Bucharest is saying NO to pardoning!,
    In prison, not in power!, and In a democracy, the place of the thieves is in
    prison!. The protests were peaceful and no violence was reported.




    The head of state, Klaus Iohannis, joined the protesters for about 15
    minutes. Iohannis, himself an opponent of the government’s recent decisions,
    said he came to the University square to voice his outrage at the corrupt
    politicians who plan to undermine the rule of law:




    Changing the legislation
    and pardoning hundreds of convicted politicians, allowing them to continue
    their wrongdoings, is inconceivable. Romanians have every right to be
    outraged.




    The head of the Social
    Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has said that by joining the protesters
    President Iohannis has in fact broken the law in an attempt to gain some political
    advantage for himself. Some commentators say Dragnea is right in this respect
    and accuse Iohannis of having breached his neutrality as a mediator. Others,
    however, argue that the programme that has won the Social Democratic Party a
    landslide victory in the recent parliamentary elections had no mention of the
    fact that its main concern will be to release thieves from prison.