The justice minister’s request for Prosecutor
\nGeneral Augustin Lazar to be removed from office is totally inadequate,
\nRomanian President Klaus Iohannis has said, calling once more on the Justice
\nMinister to resign. Attempts are being made again to reinforce the idea that
\nprosecutors are enemies of society, the head of state has pointed out. Iohannis
\nhas called on the magistrates not to lose trust in the Romanian society’s
\ncapacity to resist what he calls a new attack on the rule of law. Justice
\nMinister Tudorel Toader on Wednesday initiated the procedure to remove Augustin
\nLazar from office, arguing that the latter has failed to observe his legal
\nobligations. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 20 accusations leveled at the Prosecutor General range from disregarding
\nthe management project, to making
\npublic statements of a political nature. In turn, the Prosecutor General says that the
\nJustice Minister’s accusations are ridiculous and exaggerated and are hiding
\nvested interests. Lazar has given assurances that prosecutors will further do
\ntheir job in keeping with the Constitution and the human rights. Appointed head
\nof the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2016 for a three-year mandate, Augustin
\nLazar is seen by his supporters as the last opponent to the reform of the
\njudiciary, undertaken by the left-of-center government but harshly criticized
\nby Brussels, which fears that the independence of judges and the fight against
\ncorruption are put at risk. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Asked by a Romanian private TV station for its
\nopinion, the European Commission has compared Augustin Lazar’s situation with
\nthat of the former chief of the Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta
\nKovesi, whom President Iohannis had to dismiss in July, in keeping with a
\nConstitutional Court’s decision, also at Tudorel Toader’s request. Over 1000
\nmagistrates are asking the Justice Minister to immediately abandon the
\nprocedure of dismissing the Prosecutor General.
\nSuch a procedure, which bypasses the opinion of the Superior Council of
\nMagistracy, the hallmark of the independence of justice, as well as the Prosecutor
\nGeneral’s right to defense, has been fiercely criticized by the Venice
\nCommission, the Groups of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the European
\nCommission, and is jeopardizing Romania’s position within the European Union
\nand the Council of Europe and the very existence of the Romanian State, the
\nJudges’ Forum has said. Analysts believe that after the Constitutional Court’s
\ndecision in the case of Laura Codruta Kovesi, President Iohannis has no legal instruments
\nto block Augustin Lazar’s dismissal. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Superior Council of Magistracy has set the hearing of Romania’s Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar on November 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":79277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39473,31800,39472,34535,30123,39471],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-79305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-attacks-on-the-rule-of-law","tag-augustin-lazar","tag-dismissal-procedure","tag-magistrates-associations","tag-prosecutor-general","tag-tudore-toader"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n