New criminal legislation sparks protests and controversy

Hundreds of thousands of Romanians took to the streets in Romania and major cities across Europe.

Corina Cristea, 02.02.2017, 13:55

The Grindeanu government’s decision to amend, on Tuesday night, by an emergency ordinance, the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code has generated the biggest rallies in Romania since 1989. Over 150 thousand people gathered in front of the Government’s offices in Bucharest and 150,000 others took to the streets in cities and towns across Romania. The Romanians in the Diaspora also protested in many European capital cities. In London, Paris, Brussels and Rome, the Romanians gathered to express their solidarity with protesters at home.

“At night time, like thieves!”, “Dragnea, the country’s sexton”, “We’ll be here every day”, “You don’t go unpunished”, “We see you!”, “Ceausescu hasn’t died, he is Dragnea, the hair dyed” — are only some of the slogans chanted by the protesters. People are outraged by the way in which the Codes have been amended and say behind the explanations given by the government, there’s actually the hidden interest to clean the record of politicians, local officials and some business people. The new provisions are tailored for some people, they say. The list of people whose criminal records would be cleared following the application of the new provisions reportedly includes big names, such of that of Liviu Dragnea, the Social Democratic leader, who got a suspended prison sentence and who is currently under investigation for incitement to abuse of office.

Prison overcrowding, which might incur penalties for Romania, and harmonising the legislation with the rulings issued by the Constitutional Court – the reasons evoked by the government – are considered to be just pretexts to justify the haste with which major changes have been brought to such important laws. The amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code refer to the way in which the abuse of office is defined and punished. The new emergency ordinance stipulates the decriminalisation of the abuse of power if the damage caused falls below 200,000 lei (some 45,000 Euros).

Also, a larger category of people will no longer fall under the incidence of provisions related to the offence of favouring the culprit. Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, has taken a stand and notified the Constitutional Court on a possible legal conflict between the government, the judicial system and Parliament. In turn, the Higher Council of Magistracy had earlier made public its decision to notify the Court relative to an institutional conflict between the state powers. The executive power, namely the Government, allegedly infringed upon the prerogatives of the legal power, the Higher Council of Magistracy believes. The right-wing opposition has filed a censure motion entitled “Grindeanu Government – the Governmment of national defiance. Do not legalise theft in Romania”.

(Translated by Diana Vijeu)