Rai Uno journalist files complaint against Romanian senator Diana Sosoaca and her husband

The Italian press has published an extensive report on the scandal in which Romanian Senator Diana Șoșoacă and her husband were involved while a team from Rai Uno tried to interview her. The “antivaxxer” senator is accused of attacking and seizing the Rai Uno team, while the police is accused of not protecting the journalists.

The Italian media reported that senator Sosoaca attacked and sequestered the journalist Lucia Goracci from Rai Uno, who came to Romania to make a report about Romania, which ranks second to last in Europe on the anti-Covid vaccination.

Rai Uno  presented the report that begins with the image of a cart walking on a foggy road, while journalists say that only a third of the population has been vaccinated in Romania. The Rai 1 team also talked to the doctor Adrian Marinescu, but also wanted to know the opinion of the antivaxxer senator Diana Șoșoacă and went to her law firm in the Capital.

After the Rai Uno journalist asked Diana Sosoaca about the way the pandemic has been managed in Romania and about the conditions in the hospitals, the senator blocked the TV crew in her office and called the police.

The scandal that culminated with the intervention of the police in Sosoaca’s office. The Italian journalists have also accused the Romanian police officers not protecting them, and said they managed to leave Sosoaca’s office only due to the intervention of the Italian Embassy in Bucharest. More precisely, Goracci was searched and questioned by the Romanian policemen and the TV crew could leave only after 8 hours,  according to La Stampa.

Italian journalist Lucia Goracci filed a complaint with the 4th Police Station in Bucharest against Senator Diana Şoşoacă, claiming that she was sequestered in Sosoaca’s office and that the senator’s husband, Dumitru-Silvestru Şoşoacă, bit her hand.

Dumitru Silvestru Şoşoacă was heard at the Prosecutor’s Offic upon the District 1 Court, being also accused of attacking a police officer amid the conflict with the Italian journalists. Silvestru Şoşoacă  was placed under a judicial control of 60 days.

The Romanian Government also reacted on this topic.

“The Romanian government strongly condemns any act of intimidation of journalists or obstruction of the right to free information of citizens. Freedom of expression, the right to an opinion and access to information are guarantees of a consolidated democracy and the functioning of the rule of law. Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca considers this incident unacceptable and categorically rejects the manifestation of differences of opinion through violence. The Prime Minister of Romania is concerned about this case, which must be clarified as a matter of urgency by the competent state institutions”, says a Government press statement.