The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has declassified the protocol of cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the High Court, the procedure launched at the end of May by the intelligence service chief Eduard Hellvig.
The cooperation protocol between the SRI and the Prosecutor’s Office upon the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ) and the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) was posted on the service’s website on Monday.
According to SRI, it was taken into account that the protocol does not contain any data or information that could jeopardize Romania’s national security, as it is currently defined by the legislation in force and by the recent rulings of the Constitutional Court of Romania.
SRI indicates that the main issue covered by the protocol was the setting up and operation of the legal and organizational framework for the security accreditation of the common IT system for the management of classified information traded in the procedures for issuing national security mandates.
The protocol is signed by George Maior (SRI), Laura Codruta Kovesi (PICCJ) and Nicolae Popa (ICCJ).
The service shows that the signing of the protocol was made following a binding request from ORNISS (March 2006), which required the two institutions to conclude a mutual security agreement, as well as the acquisition by the PICCJ of a security accreditation certificate.
In implementing the ORNISS provisions, the SRI-PICCJ Security Agreement was signed in 2009, and in 2012 the security accreditation of the interconnected information system was achieved. In March 2017 the accreditation was extended until 2020.
Former High Court chairman, Nicolae Popa, denies signing the protocol
Former ICCJ chairman, Nicolae Popa, said on Monday he did not sign the protocol between the SRI, PICCJ and ICCJ, he had retired earlier than the date the document was signed. Current High Court chairman, Cristina Tarcea, has confirmed that she has invited Popa to clarify the situation.
“I did not sign such a protocol. Besides, please be forgotten, it is signed on September 2, 2009, when I had already left the Court. I spoke to Chairman Cristina Tarcea earlier and I’ve asked her to keep the document, so I can see it and see what it is all about. I have not negotiated such a thing with anyone, as long as I was with the Court, by no means. On September 1, 2009, when I was 70, I left the High Court. All documents for retirement were already submitted to the CSM. The protocol is signed, as you can see, on September 2, 2009. I did not return to sign it! A judge has nothing to look for in such an equation. I will go to the High Court and look at both the document and the records. For me this situation is less explainable. As I have seen on TV, the signature is mine, but I do not want to make speculation yet, nor to discuss other kinds of workmanship,” Nicolae Popa has told Q Magazine on Monday.
The current chairman of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Cristina Tarcea, said that she has invited Nicolae Popa for talks to clarify the matter.
Association of Magistrates chief, confused – How comes SRI and the High Court cooperated?
The President of the Association of Magistrates (AMR), Andreea Ciuca, says magistrates are confused about the protocol, as ICCJ, PICCJ and SRI cannot have joint objectives, although it is about national security.
“How should ICCJ and PICCJ cooperate with SRI? What common objectives can the three institutions have? Where are we heading to in terms of rule of law, we are confused, as everything we’ve learned during the university years seems not to be in force or is diluted?” Andreea Ciuca told Antena 3 TV private broadcaster.