Parliament has repealed the compensatory appeal law, which has sparked great controversy since its adoption
Having taken effect two years ago, the compensatory appeal law was repealed on Wednesday in Parliament by unanimous vote. Originally designed by Justice Minister Raluca Pruna, the law was passed in 2017 by the Social-Democratic ruling power. It was meant to do away with the harsh sanctions Romania was handed down by the European Court of Human Rights for its improper detention facilities. According to the National Penitentiary Administration, some 23 thousand felons were released from prison under the new law, of which 19,000 on probation. 2,300 reoffended and were sent back to prison, some of them having committed criminal offences shortly after their release, others because they were being investigated in other criminal cases at the time of their release. The National Liberal Party in power, in this matter supported by Save Romania Union, admits the law was originally designed to deal with the precarious situation in penitentiaries, but claims it was twisted by the Social-Democrats to serve as an amnesty in disguise. Liberal MP Ioan Cupsa:
"The law 169 of 2017 denoted an obvious lack of wisdom and goodwill, unlike anything this Parliament has seen. You knew the effects it would have, but you needed some of your colleagues to be released earlier from prison, so you let everyone go".
The Social-Democrats defend themselves, arguing everyone who got an early prison release under the compensatory appeal law was released by court order. Alfred Simonis, the leader of the Social-Democratic group in the Chamber of Deputies, who voted in favor of the repeal, has admitted to the flaws in the former law, saying citizen safety prevails over any sanctions Romania might receive from the European Court of Human Rights for its improper detention facilities.
"We hope that the new Government will find alternative means of detention, as well as measures to avoid ECHR sanctions. We all agree it's better to pay compensations, if it comes to that, rather than release people from penitentiaries".
On the very day the law was repealed, the Finance Ministry published a draft law whereby the state has loaned 177 million euros from the Council of Europe Development Bank. The money will be used to build two penitentiaries that will be able to detain 1,900 offenders in line with European standards.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
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