Criminal laws, under debate
The Romanian Justice Ministry Monday organised a public debate on the controversial measures it intends to implement, namely a collective pardon and amendments to the Criminal Code.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 31.01.2017, 13:00
One day after nearly 100,000 people, including in the diaspora, protested the Governments plans to pass two controversial emergency orders, one granting collective pardons and another one amending the Criminal Code, the Justice Ministry organised on Monday a public debate on the topic. Chairing the debate, the Social Democrat Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the author of the desired changes, said he would table consistent documents related to the criminal legislation, in compliance with the opinions expressed in the public debate. The pardon is not targeted at specific individuals, but rather is meant to help improve detention conditions, said Minister Iordache, who is accused of pushing legislation that serves his own party, the Social Democratic Party, some high-profile members of which have been facing corruption sentences in recent years. Here is Florin Iordache, talking about the elimination of some provisions from the drafts:
“We will take into account the comments made here today and those provisions which were unclear or conflicting will certainly be eliminated. I will not tell you what we will take out and what the final drafts will look like. I repeat, further to todays consultations, I have some comments that I would like to have included in the texts of the two bills.
The amendments proposed by the Justice Ministry were criticised by some of the participants in the public debate. As one of them put it,
“The manner in which the pardon and the criminal law amendments were designed essentially reconfigures Romanias criminal policy with respect to workplace-related offences, such as abuse of office, negligence, and so on. And it is unacceptable that this should be operated under a government order.
Also on Monday, President Klaus Iohannis called on the Government to give up the bills on pardons and the amendments to the Criminal Code. The President said the Government cannot overlook the citizens will, and that a sound democracy is one where the majority does not abuse its position only because it is temporarily in power. Joining in the criticism against the proposed changes are civil society representatives, the countrys main judicial bodies, including the Prosecutor Generals Office, the Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, magistrate associations, opposition parties and the US Embassy in Bucharest. In turn, the Justice Ministry defends its bills, putting forth arguments related to the detention conditions and some Constitutional Court rulings. (Translated by A.M. Popescu)
