Justice minister, PM Ciolos retort to the Sky News case

Several Romanian officials retorted on the Sky News’ alleged gun running in Romania. Justice Minister Raluca Pruna said on Friday that the Romanian state is compelled to react if the elements reported in the media coverage broadcast by Sky News are not compliant with the reality.

“Of course, if the Sky News coverage is not compliant with the reality, the Romanian state is compelled to react. And the first actions have been taken in this respect,” minister Pruna said in a press conference at Victoria Palace when asked by the journalists if Romania should sue Sky News in London.

Previously on Thursday, PM Dacian Ciolos said that the Romanian authorities have taken a stand in this case, while stressing that it is unacceptable to have this kind of stances when a country is denigrated without evidence.

Asked if the Romanian authorities have demanded explanations after the story made by Sky News, Ciolos replied: “Yes. Our Ambassador in London has also publicly stated the initiatives he had and as we have more precise pieces of information about what happened there (…), and I told them I want to take a stand, because it is unacceptable to have this kind of stances from a free press. One cannot denigrate a country without having evidence, when one comes with certain statements.”

The Romanian Embassy in the UK on Thursday evening announced that for fairly and fully informing the public and for establishing the truth about the “Criminal Gang Selling Military Weapons” story that introduces alleged firearms traffickers from Romania it has sent Sky News a new letter, calling on the British broadcaster to air the outcome of the criminal probe conducting by Romania’s Directorate for Organised Crime and Terrorism Investigations (DIICOT) and do so as they broadcast their story.

“The embassy informs about preliminary conclusions of the DIICOT investigation that point to a false nature of the allegations made in the story, saying that the accusations levelled by the reporter generate questions in the public space as well as conclusions and misstatements that groundlessly affect Romania’s image. At the same time, a wish is expressed that in line with the values and principles promoted for the correct information of the public, Sky News will attach due attention to the request made by Romanian authorities,” reads a message posted in Romanian by the Romanian Embassy to the UK on its Facebook page.

The Romanian Embassy forwarded the official DIICOT stances to Sky News as a right of reply. It also notified the British communications regulatory body OFCOM about the content of the “Criminal Gang Selling Military Weapons” story broadcast by the said channel on August 7.