Divergences in the Romanian judicial system
Protests against irregularities in the justice system have resumed in Romania.
Bogdan Matei, 12.12.2025, 14:00
Less than a decade ago, hundreds of thousands of Romanians were in the streets, to protest against the attempt of the strongman of the Bucharest political scene at the time, the social-democratic leader Liviu Dragnea, to subordinate the judiciary and thwart the fight against corruption at the top of the state, through several emergency orders drafted by the government he controlled. Later, precisely for acts of corruption, Dragnea was sent, for a short time, behind bars, his own party disowned him, and today he is a completely marginal character, who only appears on television on gastronomic shows, where he tells what he used to cook in the prison kitchen. The claimed independence of the judiciary seems to have turned, according to the media, into a kind of dictatorship of magistrates, whose sentences, from the omnipotent Constitutional Court to the last provincial court, have eroded public trust in the system.
Romanians are now taking to the streets again, this time not to defend the robe wearers, but to fine their arrogance, self-sufficiency and cynicism. Those calling for protests say that a media investigation has revealed how corruption has taken hold of the system, with the tacit support of the politicians who voted for the justice laws. “It is time to let them know them that the situation has become intolerable and that the time has come for the politicians who say they want a state of law, but also for the honest people in the Justice system, to fix things. What happens in the Justice system impacts us all. Just as corruption impacts our lives every day,” the demonstrators say. They demand the dismissal of judge Lia Savonea from the leadership of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the dismissal of the passive leadership of the National Anticorruption Directorate, the dismissal of the former Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu, today Minister of the Interior, during whose mandate the facts denounced by the investigation journalists took place, the revision of the powers of the Superior Council of Magistracy, the legislative elimination of the so-called loopholes, that allow the postponement of criminal trials until the statute of limitations expires.
That the system still has antibodies, is proven by the fact that almost 200 prosecutors and judges, from most of the important courts, signed a letter of support of the magistrates who spoke about the anomalies in the system, showing that these are not isolated cases, but systemic problems. “Truth and integrity should not be sanctioned, but protected,” the magistrates said in an open letter. In response, the Judges’ Section of the Supreme Court of Romania (CSM) says the press investigation is part of a well-planned strategy, aimed at destabilizing the judiciary by undermining public confidence in the justice system and its leaders. In turn, the leadership of the Bucharest Court of Appeal says this is a smear campaign, a denigration through manipulation. (Elena Enache)
