The story of one of the most controversial
\nstructures in the Romanian judiciary is coming to an end these days. The
\ngovernment in Bucharest on Monday endorsed a draft law on dismantling the
\nspecial Section for the Investigation of the Judiciary, known in Romania as
\nSIIJ. The head of the coalition government, Liberal Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, has recalled
\nthat this is an objective Romania has also assumed within the Cooperation and
\nVerification Mechanism (CVM) through which Brussels has been monitoring the
\nrule of law in Romania ever since the country’s entry into the European Union
\nin 2007. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Under the new amendments, other structures
\nhave been authorized to take over the SIIJ files and their resolutions are to
\nbe made public within 60 days since the law has come into effect, by the
\nProsecutor’s Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the other
\nthe competent offices, which are carrying on work on the aforementioned files. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
High-ranking prosecutors and justices
\naccused of various offences are to be investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office
\nwith the High Court of Cassation and Justice whereas the other prosecutors and
\njudges by prosecutor’s offices of other courts. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The jobs in the organizational chart of
\nthe SIIJ will remain in the organizational chart of the Prosecutor’s Office
\nwith the High Court of Cassation and Justice, part of the Penal and Crime Investigation
\nDepartment. Starting with the date of the SIIJ dismantling, its prosecutors,
\nincluding those in higher positions, will be returning to the prosecutor’s
\noffices they belonged to. The aforementioned draft will be submitted for
\nParliament debates and approval. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The largest part of the press in
\nBucharest, as well as legal experts, have constantly denounced the SIIJ as a
\nmeans of putting pressure on the magistrates and hindering Romania’s anti-graft
\nactions. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The initiator of this project was believed
\nto be the former Social Democratic strongman Liviu Dragnea who had dominated
\nRomania’s political life for a couple of years before being arrested on corruption
\ncharges in 2019. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The present head of European Public
\nProsecutor’s Office, EPPO, Laura Codruta Kovesi, who had previously headed
\nRomania’s Anti-Corruption Directorate with unmatched effectiveness, confessed
\nshortly before her dismissal by president Klaus Iohannis in June 2018,
\nfollowing a Constitutional Court ruling, that in those years, the biggest
\nchallenge for the Romanian judiciary was keeping its judges and prosecutors
\nindependent. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There have been repeated tries at
\namending the anti-corruption legislation in order to limit the legislative
\ninstruments used by anti-corruption prosecutors or attempts at decriminalizing
\nsome actions. There were situations in which requests for lifting the immunity
\nof corrupt politicians had been turned down, Kovesi went on to say. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania gets rid of a structure believed to be aimed at intimidating its magistrates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":84996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28950,31524,30138,32766,29408,36284],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-91104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-corruption","tag-dragnea","tag-kovesi","tag-magistrates","tag-prosecutors","tag-siij"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n