The justice minister’s request for Prosecutor
General Augustin Lazar to be removed from office is totally inadequate,
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said, calling once more on the Justice
Minister to resign. Attempts are being made again to reinforce the idea that
prosecutors are enemies of society, the head of state has pointed out. Iohannis
has called on the magistrates not to lose trust in the Romanian society’s
capacity to resist what he calls a new attack on the rule of law. Justice
Minister Tudorel Toader on Wednesday initiated the procedure to remove Augustin
Lazar from office, arguing that the latter has failed to observe his legal
obligations.
The 20 accusations leveled at the Prosecutor General range from disregarding
the management project, to making
public statements of a political nature. In turn, the Prosecutor General says that the
Justice Minister’s accusations are ridiculous and exaggerated and are hiding
vested interests. Lazar has given assurances that prosecutors will further do
their job in keeping with the Constitution and the human rights. Appointed head
of the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2016 for a three-year mandate, Augustin
Lazar is seen by his supporters as the last opponent to the reform of the
judiciary, undertaken by the left-of-center government but harshly criticized
by Brussels, which fears that the independence of judges and the fight against
corruption are put at risk.
Asked by a Romanian private TV station for its
opinion, the European Commission has compared Augustin Lazar’s situation with
that of the former chief of the Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta
Kovesi, whom President Iohannis had to dismiss in July, in keeping with a
Constitutional Court’s decision, also at Tudorel Toader’s request. Over 1000
magistrates are asking the Justice Minister to immediately abandon the
procedure of dismissing the Prosecutor General.
Such a procedure, which bypasses the opinion of the Superior Council of
Magistracy, the hallmark of the independence of justice, as well as the Prosecutor
General’s right to defense, has been fiercely criticized by the Venice
Commission, the Groups of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the European
Commission, and is jeopardizing Romania’s position within the European Union
and the Council of Europe and the very existence of the Romanian State, the
Judges’ Forum has said. Analysts believe that after the Constitutional Court’s
decision in the case of Laura Codruta Kovesi, President Iohannis has no legal instruments
to block Augustin Lazar’s dismissal.