Romanian president Klaus Iohannis
\non Wednesday signed a decree on the resignation of Felix Banila, the head of
\nRomania’s main Directorate for Investigating Crime and Terrorism, DIICOT.
\nBanila announced his intention to step down after the president had called for
\nhis resignation in a prime time broadcast. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Klaus Iohannis: DIICOT’s
\ninvolvement in the Caracal case should have added a plus of professionalism and
\ncredibility, but this failed to happen with Mr. Banila as chief prosecutor and
\nthe investigation still has to provide answers to several questions. The way in
\nwhich things have gone so far has raised a series of suspicions and eroded
\npeople’s trust in authorities. Such an approach could lead to poor results only.
\nSo I have called on Mr. Banila, to step down from the position of DIICOT chief
\nprosecutor. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
President Iohannis has blamed the
\nformer chief prosecutor for the way in which the investigation in the Caracal file
\nhas been conducted – this being a difficult file with a heavy public emotional
\npayload. In this case, prosecutors must establish whether two minor girls were killed
\nby an alleged human trafficker. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
What the Romanian president said he
\nwitnessed so far was only the authorities’ inability to respond and react
\npromptly as well as a series of outrageous public gestures coming from these
\nauthorities, including from DIICOT. In the president’s opinion these are
\ntantamount to a lack of concern for both the victims and their families. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Banila says he doesn’t feel guilty
\nbut he decides to step down to prevent his colleagues from working under pressure.
\nThe president’s latest move concerning the resignation of the DIICOT chief has
\nbeen perceived by many as a pure electoral maneuver. We recall that Iohannis is
\npresently running for a second term in office and his involvement in the
\nCaracal case so far was almost next to nothing. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Furthermore the president has been
\naccused by his opponents of having endorsed an unprecedented situation in
\nRomania’s legal system, because after Banila’s resignation, all prosecutor
\noffices across the country are being headed by interim chief prosecutors, which
\ncould bear on the activity of the aforementioned institutions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The General Prosecutor’s Office has
\nbeen functioning without a chief prosecutor for half a year now and the
\nNational Anti-corruption Directorate has been led by an interim
\nchief-prosecutor for more than a year, after the former Justice Minister’s
\nappointee was turned down by president Iohannis. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Felix Banila, the head of Romanias main Directorate for Investigating Crime and Terrorism, DIICOT, has stepped down, all the main prosecutors offices across the country are being headed by interim chief prosecutors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":83152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35077,34932,30742,29125],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-83151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-banila","tag-caracal","tag-diicot","tag-iohannis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n