Update: Six million Romanians – intercepted, head of Parliamentary committee on SRI says. Information is inaccurate, the intelligence service says

Six million Romanians were intercepted by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) during 2004-2006, Claudiu Manda, head of the Parliamentary committee on SRI activity said on Thursday. Manda said that, according to the information held by the committee, all Government members at the time were intercepted on the basis on national security warrants, digi24.ro reports.

“The restrictions on right and liberties for citizens were conducted on a large scale, while the national security warrants were used abusively, as well as those for technical supervision. The overall number of warrants for supervision and surveillance during 2005-2006 is of 311,000. Given that for one surveillance warrant it’s an average of 20 people or offices intercepted, we believe more than 6 million people were intercepted,” Claudiu Manda said.

“We were notified, at the committee, that in 2012 almost all the executive was monitored, intercepted and minimum 100 MPs,” he added, according to the source.

On the other hand, Manda claims the intercepted people should be notified.

“We believe the legal framework should provide that the persons having their rights and liberties restricted should be notified within a margin of two years since the date of enforcing the surveillance warrants or since the rights were restricted,” the committee chairman said.

Claudiu Manda also said he would request SRI the number of warrants for national security.

Information is inaccurate, the intelligence service says

During 2004-2016 some 28,784 national security warrants were requested of which less than 9,200 were initial mandates, whereas the number of people whose rights and liberties were restricted was of 20,907, SRI informs in a release, as a reply to Manda’s statements.

“During December 11, 2004 (when Law 535/2004 came into force) and February 16, 2016 (until the Constitutional Court decision) the overall number of national security warrants requested by the Romania Intelligence Service was of 28,784, of which 9,292 initial ones.

The number of people with restricted rights and liberties, by the law, based on the authorization released by the High Court of Cassation and Justice judges, was of 20,907. For a number of 17,182 people such restrictions were extended by three months, by the law,” SRI informs in a press release.

SRI also says that out of the 20,907 initial mandates, it requested technical completions for 16,175 people.

“We underline that these figures were delivered to the parliamentary committee on SRI, upon its request, in November last year,” the release reads.

And yet… committee’s deputy chairman claims the 6m figure stands

Deputy Chairman of the parliamentary committee on SRI activity, Marian Cusa, said on Friday that SRI has released only the number of people intercepted on basis of national security warrants, without the number of people intercepted on basis of technical surveillance warrants released on the basis of the protocol between the Prosecutor General’s Office and SRI.

“By its release, SRI informs about the national security warrants, requested by the law by SRI, whereas in our report, we talk about the national security warrants on one hand, the technical surveillance warrants enforced on the basis of the protocol signed by the Public Ministry and SRI, but also about the 48-hour authorisations requested by the prosecutors. This is why there is such a big difference between our report and the SRI figures. If we calculate, we can draw a conclusion about what happened with the protocol, recently declassified. The figure of 6 million stands regarding the three fields I’ve presented,” ALDE Deputy, Marian Cucsa, said.