Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar (photo 1) said on Wednesday that there is no need to make “judicial engineering to decriminalize certain types of anti-social deeds”.
Asked at CSM headquarters about possible decriminalization of crimes, he said: “It would be obvious that decriminalization is done with dedication. Things are very clear and I would like to analyze them more deeply because they are very clear. (…) We do not need to make a legal engineering to decriminalize certain types of anti-social acts. It would be exaggerated, such as the abuse of office to make an indictment (change) so that lots of DNA files to remain without object.”
Asked if he has talked with the Minister of Justice on the draft Emergency Ordinance on pardon and decriminalization of certain offenses in the Criminal Code, Lazar said that the public ministry is against such “acts of clemency”.
“The position of the Public Ministry is firm and clear against such acts of clemency, especially the ones which lack transparency, which were not publicly discussed and should be analyzed in the Superior Council of Magistracy. CSM is the guarantor of the judicial authority, if CSM is not consulted on a matter of this kind it means that the judiciary is neglected, is regarded as negligible, this worries me as a member of the Superior Council of Magistracy,” Augustin Lazar said.
He added that if clemency is shown, it will prove that state institutions are ‘weak’.
“We, if we show weakness, rather than consolidate the fight against corruption and organized crime, crime in general (…), showing weakness by acts of clemency, we prove that the Romanian state institutions are weak we will demonstrate, without saying it, that the state institutions cannot find the right solution to imprison those who have been proven that they committed crimes for which final sentences have been made,” Augustin Lazar said.
However, Augustin Lazar specified that in France there are problems with overcrowding, but they never “rushed to free the criminals.”
“Justice is something very serious and I want to make sure someone does not think to something else than to fulfil their duties,” the Prosecutor General said.
DNA chief Laura Codruta Kovesi: I doubt Justice Minister’s good faith
The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) chief Laura Codruta Kovesi (photo 2) has said on Wednesday she doubts the Justice Minister Florin Iordache’s good faith, in regard to the ordinances on pardon and the decisions of the Constitutional Court.
“I had talks last week, on Monday, with the Justice Minister in an institutional framework, together with the Prosecutor General and the DIICOT chief prosecutor, on which occasion the minister firmly promised that any amendment to the law, of the Criminal Code, of the Criminal Procedure Code or any other law, will be discussed by the (judicial) system. I notice he has broken his promise. I was expecting it, in fact. (…) Let’s see if things clear up, in what direction. Judicial practice, at least the one after the Constitutional Court’s decision on abuse of office, is a unitary practice, starting with the Supreme Court’s decisions, but also the other courts, it is a unitary practice. The CCR motivation is pretty clear. I don’t understand what is to be clarified further. Right now I doubt the Justice Minister’s good faith, who promised such projects will be discussed before, not after. I doubt he is of good faith. If it is clarification, why work in secrecy? Why work at night and no one has access to these projects? Why are we to find about them in the Official Gazette? Why aren’t they on the agenda? Why there is no transparency?” Kovesi said for Europa FM private radio broadcaster.
We mention that the Justice Ministry has posted on its website the draft emergency ordinance on pardoning some offences, among them sentences in prison up to five years and halving the sentence for inmates older than 60, pregnant women and for those having children less than 5 years old.