June 21, 2018 UPDATE

High Court of Cassation and Justice sentences PSD leader Liviu Dragnea to 3 and a half years in prison for abuse of office

Newsroom, 21.06.2018, 19:47

Sentence – The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest on Thursday sentenced the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea to 3 and a half years in prison for abuse of office. In the same case he was acquitted for intellectual forgery. The decision is not definitive and can be appealed. Last month, the prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate asked for a sentence of 7 years and 5 months imprisonment for abuse of office and of 2 and a half years for intellectual forgery. They accuse Dragnea that in his capacity as president of the Teleorman County Council he ordered the fictitious employment of two Social Democratic Party members with the Directorate for Social Assistance and Child Protection. They were paid from public money although they worked exclusively for the PSD. Liviu Dragnea denied the accusations. In 2016 Dragnea received a definitive 2-year suspended sentence for attempted electoral fraud. The Court cancelled, through Thursday’s decision, the sentence he had previously received in the Referendum case as sentences cannot be cumulated.

Motion — The censure motion filed by the opposition parties in Romania will be read on Monday in the plenum of Parliament and on Wednesday it will be debated and voted on, according to the decision of the joint permanent bureaus of Parliament’s two chambers. The initiators of the motion claim that the current government destroyed the Romanian economy and the judiciary through the measures they took.

Cyber threat — 9 EU members including Romania will set up rapid reaction teams to respond to potential cyber threats, the Lithuanian officials announced on Thursday, as Lithuania is leading this project. The Lithuanian foreign minister Raimundas Karoblis said that his counterparts from Croatia, Estonia, the Netherlands and Romania would to Luxemburg on Monday to sign this agreement, while Finland, Poland and Spain will do that later this year. The rotating teams of experts will be ready to assist national authorities in case of a cyber attack, Raimundas Karoblis also added. Cyber force is among the first projects implemented as part of the European Defense pact signed last year, in a context created by the doubts of the American President over the role of NATO and by Brexit, France Press reports.

Chisinau — The invalidation of the elections in Chisinau was one of the issues on Thursday’s agenda of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. According to a communiqué of the EP, the Committee shows deep concern with the decision of the court in Chisinau, that decided not to confirm the legality of the recent local elections for the mayor of Chisinau, invoking dubious and non-transparent reasons. The communiqué also shows that political interference in the judicial system and the elections runs counter to the European standards which the Republic of Moldova decided to adopt as part of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. The court in Chisinau declared the elections for mayor null. They were won by one of the leaders of the pro-European opposition, Andrei Nastase. Previously he had been found guilty of having broken the electoral code, as he allegedly urged the citizens to go to the polls on the very day of the vote. The mayor elect labeled the decision arbitrary and said he would contest it in Court.

London — NATO will survive despite current tension between the US and Europe, said Thursday, in London, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to him, the bridge between Europe and the US will survive despite any differences over trade, climate change and the Iranian nuclear deal. He added that it was more important than ever before that NATO should maintain its unity.

Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu, 30 WTA, will take on the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (5WTA) on Friday in the quarter finals of the Birmingham tournament which has total prizes worth 850 thousand dollars. Buzarnescu has already won a 25 thousand dollar check and 100 WTA points. In their latest match, in the 3rd round of this year’s edition of Roland Garros, Buzarnescu defeated Elena Svitolina 2-0 in the sets. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)