The former chairman of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea remains behind bars after the High Court of Cassation and Justice had overruled his appeal against the ruling he received in January this year related to his 3-year-and-a-half sentence in the Teleorman fictitious hiring file.
In January, the Supreme Court had dismissed as “unfounded” the appeal filed by the former PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea in the file in which he is serving a 3-and-a-half prison sentence at Rahova Penitentiary and also ruled that the former PSD chair must also pay legal fees of RON 200 to the state.
Liviu Dragnea has been heard by the High Court judges through video conference on Monday to have a final ruling regarding his appeal, with Dragnea’s lawyers denouncing yet that due to technical problems “judges had not understood much” of what the former SocDem leader had said.
“Basically he said he is under an illegal detention. Unfortunately, the transmission was very bad,” Dragnea’s lawyer, Flavia Teodosiu said.
In mid-January this year, Liviu Dragnea, imprisoned for corruption at Rahova Penitentiary since May 2019, was brought under escort to the High Court of Cassation and Justice for an extraordinary appeal through which he is trying to obtain a retrial of his fictitious hiring file in which he had been sentenced to three years and a half in prison.
“I am completely innocent, I have been under bars for 8 months,” Dragnea told magistrates back then.
Liviu Dragnea was sentenced to 3 years and a half in prison on May 27, 2019, right after the EP elections, in a file related to some fictitious hiring of two PSD members to the Teleorman General Directorate for Child Protection. Dragnea was accused of masterminding the fictitious hiring and that the two employees used to cash the salaries from the directorate although they actually did not come to work. The official charge against Dragnea was instigation to abuse of office.
Since last year, the former PSD chairman has made repeated attempts to get out of prison, by challenging his sentence through appeals, but all his motions were denied.