Radio România Internațional

Tag: Prosecutor General’s Office

  • Official inquiry into election interference

    Official inquiry into election interference

    Former far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has been placed under pre-trial arrest for 60 days, after prosecutors questioned him for several hours on Wednesday at the Prosecutor General’s Office, where he was brought in with a warrant. Georgescu was presented with six criminal charges, some of them in aggravated form. One of these marks a premiere for Romania – incitement to actions against the constitutional order, a crime for which no one has ever been prosecuted. Georgescu was also accused of communicating false information, making false declarations regarding financial statements and the funding of the election campaign, initiating or establishing organizations with a fascist, racist or xenophobic and anti-Semitic character and joining or supporting such groups in any form, as well as publicly promoting figures who committed genocide and war crimes. Călin Georgescu denied all allegations, accusing the authorities of employing methods that are reminiscent of the communist regime.

     

    Last December, the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential election, invoking external interference in the election, which is set to be reorganized in full. In the second round, Călin Georgescu, who had unexpectedly managed to rank first in the Romanians’ voting options, was supposed to face the president of the USR (Save Romania Union), Elena Lasconi. After the announcement of the indictment of the former presidential candidate, Romanian politicians reasserted their trust in the judiciary and its independence. Social-Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, stressed, however, that, given the tense electoral context, judicial authorities must present extremely solid evidence in this investigation.

     

    The leader of AUR (Alliance for the Unity of Romanians), George Simion, expressed his continuous support of Călin Georgescu’s candidacy in the presidential election. Simion said he is waiting for incontestable evidence regarding the investigation launched by the Prosecutor’s Office. In turn, USR president, Elena Lasconi, stated that she continues to have confidence in the justice system and believes that prosecutors are fulfilling their duties responsibly. In contrast, the president of POT (Young People’s Party), Ana Maria Gavrilă, accused the authorities of terrorizing Călin Georgescu’s supporters. The new presidential election is slated for May 4 and 18. Upon leaving the Prosecutor’s Office, Călin Georgescu said that he will definitely run for the presidency this spring. (VP)

  • End of the parliamentary inquiry into the presidential election of 2009

    End of the parliamentary inquiry into the presidential election of 2009

    Romania’s Parliament meeting in plenary session has passed the report of the commission of inquiry into the presidential election of 2009. The report has been endorsed by the ruling coalition and rejected by the opposition. The chair of the commission, Social-Democrat MP Oana Florea, said that the report was based on dozens of hearings, thousands of pages and a lot of disputes. In her view, the report highlights a number of facts feeding suspicion about the rigging of the presidential election of 2009 won by the former head of state, Traian Basescu, to the detriment of Social-Democrat Mircea Geoana. Oana Florea:



    “The Commission has noted concrete actions undertaken by the presidency represented by Traian Basescu and the government headed by Emil Boc, with a view to rigging the election in favour of candidate Traian Basescu. The actions of the two institutions were perfectly synchronized, which proved they were part of a large-scale, well-defined plan and were premeditated. The representatives of the two institutions acted forcefully, in bad faith, utterly defying the law.”



    The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition have criticized the report. Liberal MP Cezar Preda said Parliament could not be a substitute for the state authorities with prerogatives in the field. Cezar Preda:



    “There is a report. What does it include actually? There are some conclusions that were primarily drawn politically. What’s their use? Could they be of use to the Prosecutor General’s Office? No, they couldn’t. The respective file was closed by the Prosecutor General’s Office. We demanded that the Commission should conclude its activity, to say nothing of the fact that its establishment was inopportune.”



    Directly targeted by the report, former president Traian Basescu, senator of the People’s Movement Party, said that the result of the 2009 ballot had reflected the options of the electorate. Traian Basescu:



    “Did Geoana get 70,000 votes less or did I win 70,000 votes more? Let me tell you the truth: I beat Geoana. Such reports are no good, either to democracy or to Parliament, because they make it lose credibility through the fake views they advocate and make public.”



    The report highlights the election was rigged to favour Traian Basescu, who thus won his second presidential term in office, which was a narrow victory over Social-Democrat Mircea Geoana. According to the revelations of a controversial journalist, the 2009 election process was allegedly influenced by high-ranking state officials. The investigation into the presidential election of 2009 had been submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which closed it, as prosecutors concluded there was no evidence about an electoral fraud. The report passed by Parliament was submitted to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Presidency, the Government and the High Council of Magistracy, institutions that can take action according to their legal prerogatives.


    (Translated by A.M. Palcu)