General Prosecutor’s Office extends investigation in the Colectiv file over the authorities’ response

The General Prosecutor’s Office has extended the investigation in the Colectiv file, also investigating the way the Romanian authorities had intervened and cared for the victims right after the tragedy. Four people were heard on Monday morning. The investigation has been extended following criminal complaints filed by the parents of the youngsters who died in the fire and by some of the survivors who were injured.

„We started filing these criminal complaints several months after the tragedy, after we had buried our children. There have been a lot of complaints, one of them has been filed one year and a half ago by many victims and it has been lying to the prosecutor’s office ever since. We still hope something will happen,” said Eugen Iancu, the president of the Colectiv Association and father of Alexandru, a 22-year-old man who died in the deadly blaze of October 30, 2015.

The Colectiv fire claimed 64 lives ad left more than 100 injured. The parents of the dead youngsters blamed the political and medical authorities back then for their response in the rescuing operations and for their denial to transfer the injured to other hospitals abroad, which were more equipped to treat patients with severe burns.

Moreover, many injured youngsters died in hospital due to nosocomial infections.

The General Prosecutor’s Office has sent the Colectiv case in court in April 2016. The club’s owners, George Alin Anastasescu, Paul Cătălin Gancea şi Costin Mincu, are charged with manslaughter and bodily injury, while investigations were also extended against the company that delivered the fireworks that night, Golden Ideas Fireworks. Later on, another case was added, the one against two employees of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, for abuse of office. Former district 4 mayor at that time, Cristian Popescu Piedone is also tried in the same file.