The Fugitive Law is constitutional
The Constitutional Court of Romania has decided that penalties for the convicts who evade serving their sentences are constitutional
Mihai Pelin, 30.10.2024, 13:50
The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) has rejected the referral of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) in relation to the so-called “Fugitive Law” and established that the normative act is constitutional. The contested law, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies almost a year ago, stipulates that definitively convicted persons who do not report to the Police to be incarcerated will be considered escaped and risk a sentence of between 6 months and 3 years. With unanimity of votes, the constitutional judges rejected, as unfounded, the claim of unconstitutionality formulated by the Supreme Court according to which the law violates the right to a fair trial and to individual freedom.
The penalty applied for the crime of escape is added to the sentence that is unfinished on the date of escape, the normative act stipulates. “Essentially, the Court ruled that the legislator, according to its criminal policy, adopted a rule of criminalization of an act assimilated to that of escape, consisting in the evasion of the person from carrying out the writ of execution, by the passage of seven days from the date of finality of the decision by which the sentence was ordered’, states the CCR. At the same time, the constitutional court shows that the provisions of the criticized law do not violate the principle of non-retroactivity, as they will be applied from the date of its entry into force.
The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, welcomed the decision of the CCR and recalled that, last year alone, the Romanian state paid over 10 million lei (approx. 2 million euros) to bring some convicts to the country for good. Regarding the situation of fugitives who argue, through their lawyers, the inadequate conditions in the Romanian prisons, Alina Gorghiu stated that “those who go to prison cannot imagine that they are going to a five-star hotel, with luxury conditions where they would have a sauna in the morning and a five-course meal at lunch”.
The cost for the return to the country of each fugitive varies between a few thousand and 25,000 euros, against the background of a phenomenon that is increasing from year to year, the Minister of Justice also said. Thus, huge sums were paid to bring to Romania convicted fugitives that had run to Brazil, the Dominican Republic or Costa Rica, countries where, for a while, the former Minister of Tourism, Elena Udrea, or the former head of DIICOT (Anti-Mafia Prosecutor’s Office), Alina Bica also ran to, in order to escape prision. The former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu and the son of the head of the Professional Football League, Mario Iorgulescu, are still on the list of people sentenced in Romania who managed to flee the country to escape prison. Italy and Greece are the countries preferred by convicted fugitives. Therefore, through its decision, the CCR emphasizes the strengthening of criminal policy and seeks to discourage acts by means of which fugitives try to escape prison. (MI)
