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Tag: US State Department

  • Human rights in Romania, under review in Washington

    Human rights in Romania, under review in Washington

    The judiciary in Romania is the main concern of the US State Department. The lack of sufficient personnel, of physical space and of technology to enable the judiciary to act swiftly and efficiently continued, resulting in excessively long trials, the report reads. The document also mentions that the Superior Council of Magistracy, in charge of protecting judicial independence, acted to suspend judges and prosecutors suspected of legal violations.



    There were reports, however, that the Judicial Inspection department, an autonomous disciplinary unit within the council, was subject to increasing political influence and was occasionally used to investigate magistrates who prosecuted or ruled against the governing coalition’s officials or allies, the State Department notes in its report.



    Overall, the government respected judicial independence and impartiality, although the council determined that some politicians’ public statements infringed on judicial independence. Despite numerous high-profile prosecutions, corrupt practices remained widespread, the report goes on. Officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) continued to investigate and prosecute corruption cases involving political, judicial, and administrative officials, although verdicts in corruption cases were often inconsistent, with sentences varying widely for similar offenses.



    Corruption was widespread in public procurement as well, the document also shows. Bribery was common in the public sector, especially in healthcare. According to the US State Department, discrimination against the Roma continued to be a major problem. Romani groups complained that police harassment and brutality, including beatings, were routine. Both domestic and international media and observers reported societal discrimination against the Roma. The Roma had a higher unemployment rate and a lower life expectancy than ethnic groups other than Roma.



    As regards freedom of the press, the State Department writes that independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without overt restriction. Conversely, media outlets closely linked to or controlled by politicians and political groups presented news and editorial stances that frequently reflected their owners’ views and targeted criticism at political opponents and other media organizations.



    The document also refers to the anti-government protest of August 10, when 15 journalists suffered physical, verbal, or tear gas assaults by gendarmes. On the other hand, there have been reports from NGOs and media that police and gendarmes abused and mistreated prisoners, pretrial detainees, Roma, and other vulnerable persons. The report also notes that prison conditions remained harsh and overcrowded in 2018, failing to meet international standards.

  • Divergences over the justice laws

    Divergences over the justice laws

    The special parliamentary committee in charge with amending the laws in the judicial sector has drawn up new articles concerning the liability of magistrates. They stipulate, among other things, that judges and prosecutors are subject to civil, disciplinary and criminal liability for possible professional misperformance. However, an amendment introducing pecuniary liability for the damages caused by the magistrates has been dismissed.



    The Liberal Deputy Catalin Predoiu, in opposition, explained: “We enter this discussion without preconceptions, and we share the view that there must be proper liability provisions concerning magistrates, just like in all other professions. On the other hand, we are concerned that this instrument may be used as a means to pressure magistrates, and with this in mind we will come up with further proposals. Some of these proposals are of a general nature, they are a matter of principle and should be developed in a separate legislative instrument.”



    On behalf of the parliamentary majority, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the chair of the Senate’s judiciary committee Robert Cazanciuc denied that some of the more controversial amendments had been dropped as a result of a news release on this topic issued by the US State Department.



    Robert Cazanciuc: “We have changed nothing from our original initiative. The talks so far have concerned very technical aspects, as you have noticed, and although some political statements have been made, the arguments put forth concerned concrete aspects, such as how to make sure that the new provisions will be actually implemented by judicial institutions. This was what it was all about, not what the US State Department said.”



    The American diplomats had expressed concerns with Parliament preparing legislation that might jeopardise the fight against corruption and weaken the judicial sector’s independence from political pressure. The statement caused irritation in the ruling coalition, and delighted the Opposition. The Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said Parliament cannot be prevented from legislating, while the leaders of the 2 chambers, the Social Democrat Liviu Dragnea and the Liberal Democrat Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, issued a joint news release saying that “the debates, decisions and votes in Parliament are held in the name of the sovereignty of the people and cannot be subject to any form of pressure.”



    The president of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban, welcomed the position of the American diplomacy and called on the majority coalition to give up the changes to the laws on the judiciary. In turn, the head of Save Romania Union Dan Barna accused the Social Democratic Party of sacrificing the rule of law in order to protect Dragnea, who has already received a suspended sentence in a criminal case and is probed into in 2 others.



    According to commentators, the American reaction comes after the European Commission had also said the global pace of reforms in the Romanian judiciary is slowing down, and the challenges to its independence are a major source of concern.

  • March 4, 2017

    March 4, 2017

    REPORT – Corruption continues to be one of Romania’s major problems, according to the US Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016. According to the report, bribe giving and taking continues to be a widespread practice in the public sector, the laws are not always enforced effectively and the officials, including judges, are sometimes corrupt and are not being punished. The report also mentions that the immunity held by former and current ministers, who are also parliament members, has sometimes blocked criminal investigations. The report denounces discrimination against the Rroma minority, prison overcrowding and the media politicisation.



    JUSTICE — Romania’s new justice minister, Tudorel Toader, has announced that in about six weeks he will present the Government a draft law that will modify the criminal law in keeping with the Constitutional Court’s decisions. In an interview on Radio Romania, the minister said the law will be debated and adopted in Parliament. Tudorel Toader was appointed at the helm of the justice ministry in February, following the serious political crisis triggered by the government’s attempt to change the criminal laws through emergency decrees.




    PNL – The National Coordination Council of the right-of-centre National Liberal Party, the main opposition party in Romania, on Saturday decided on the roadmap, procedures and manner of electing its president. Although many Liberals favoured the idea of the party president to be elected directly, by all party members, this will only be the prerogative of the delegates at the Congress due in June. So far, former ministers Ludovic Orban and Catalin Predoiu have voiced their intention to run for party president, after Alina Gorghiu resigned this position following the defeat in the parliamentary elections.




    QUAKE — Romania commemorates today 40 years since the devastating quake of March 4, 1977, measuring 7.2 degrees on the Richter scale, that killed 1,570 people. The quake also caused material damage worth over 2 billion dollars. About 230 thousand homes were seriously damaged and 760 economic units became unfunctional. The earthquake generated an economic and social crisis that, according to historians, the communist dictatorship of that time was unable to overcome. Experts have warned that hundreds of buildings risk collapsing in the capital Bucharest in case of an earthquake of an equal magnitude.




    WOMEN’S HANDBALL – European champions CSM Bucharest qualified to the Champions League’s quarterfinals after defeating on Friday evening, on home turf, the Slovenian team Krim Ljubljana, 28-26. In the last match of the group CSM Bucharest will be up against the Danish team Ebsjerg. Most probably, the Romanian team’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be the Macedonian side Vardar Skopje.




    RUGBY – Romania’s rugby team is today taking on Russia away from home. The match will be played in Sochi and will count for the third round of Rugby Europe Championship. In the first game, the Oaks lost 38-41 to Germany, then they defeated Spain, 13-3. Romania’s next fixtures are the match against Belgium away from home on March 11 and the home game against Georgia, due on March 19.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)