The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has completed the investigation into the death of police officer Bogdan Gigina, in which former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea is prosecuted for committing a crime of manslaughter, ifor which the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ – Supreme Court) had set the deadline on May 1, judicial sources say.
The case prosecutor completed the investigation last week and forwarded it to the hierarchical chief to confirm the solution, the sources say, according to hotnews.ro.
In February, the ICCJ upheld an objection filed by the family of police officer Gigina, who complained that the DNA investigation lasts too long. Lawyer Daniel Ionaşcu says the Gigina family does not blame the DNA prosecutor for the case, but wants a reasonable three-month deadline for completing the investigation and to send the file to court. On the other hand, DNA claimed that in the case of the death of policeman Bogdan Gigina the research was extended due to the need to declassify some documents, but also because the parties asked for a large number of people to be heard.
The ICCJ has ruled on February 1, 2018 that the DNA must complete the investigation in the case of policeman Bogdan Gigina’s death by May 1.
Bogdan Gigina died in a car accident while leading the former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea’s motorcade in the autumn of 2015.
DNA claims that, at the moment of the accident, Bogdan Gigina was part of the motorcade accompanying former minister of Interior, Gabriel Oprea. The motorcade consisted in a traffic outrider, Bogdan Gigina and a police vehicle. At that moment, Oprea was returning home in Cotroceni district.
DNA claims that there are clues that Oprea broke the legal provisions when he asked for a motorcade on a regular basis.
According to the anti-corruption body, minister Oprea used to have five daily rides accompanied by the traffic police crews, which “was about three times more than the rides made for Romania’s President and twice more than the rides of the Premier, the high ranking officials who were entitled to have motorcades on a regular basis according to legal provisions.”
Prosecutors have investigated this case for more than two years.