romania’s new criminal procedure code
earlier this week i talked about the romanian parliament’s current project to change the country’s criminal procedure code in a grossly self-serving way. the changes have already been voted in parliament this week after only a short debate, and with a weak opposition and president there isn’t much that can be done to prevent them from coming into force. romanians are already protesting the new code, as we have done almost constantly for a year and a half.
here’s a list of the most significant changes to the criminal procedure code, and how they will affect us in practice. please read it and spread it around. i want people to learn about what’s happening and start giving a shit about us too because honestly? it’s kind of hopeless right now.
1. replacing ‘reasonable suspicion’ with ‘solid evidence’. this is hands-down the most important change, because it makes criminal investigations that much harder on a technicality which can also be used conveniently in political attacks against the judiciary. probably a solid half of the amendments to the code replace ‘reasonable suspicion’ with a requirement to provide firm material evidence in the early stages of an investigation where the point is to collect evidence. prosecutors need to provide such evidence in order to: place suspects under pre-trial arrest, provide witness protection, enter a certain location, or search a certain location/person. basically, if you’re a prosecutor, you need to have evidence before you can collect evidence. this is enormously important. everything on the list below should be filtered through this. reasonable suspicion is not a personal hunch, it has a legal meaning and it is already based on known facts. romanian politicians have lately adopted a very in-your-face public discourse about how the judicial system is behaving like the communist secret police, making abusive arrests and giving out unjust sentences. these politicians, many of whom have legal problems, are deliberately distorting the meaning of reasonable suspicion to claim that prosecutors and courts are abusing their power.
2. limited press releases about ongoing investigations. violent criminal on the loose? the police may no longer able to notify the public when they’ve been arrested. local politician under investigation for corruption? both accusations and investigation status are kept secret until the verdict is given. no, it doesn’t matter that they’re running for mayor in next week’s elections and people are likely to vote for them. the exceptions to this rule are conveniently vague. information can be published only when it serves the public interest ‘according to the law’ - a phrase that honestly means very little in romania right now.
3. evidence that doesn’t concern an ongoing investigation could be destroyed. you’re searching a suspect’s computer for evidence that they’ve committed online financial fraud. you find a folder full of child pornography. not only are you not allowed to immediately open a new investigation against that person for the crime of possessing child pornography, but you may be forced to destroy the evidence, making any such future investigation impossible. bonus: a search warrant must specify exactly who/what the police are allowed to search for, otherwise it is void.
4. the accused has the right to be present when the victim or witness testifies. if you’ve been subjected to domestic abuse/sexual abuse/human trafficking, you will to describe your trauma in detail to the judges in the presence of your abuser. the argument used by the parliamentary committee in charge of the new criminal procedure code: 'what’s the problem with allowing the accused to be present at the hearing together with the victim or witness? after all, they [the accused] should be presumed innocent, we should give them the right to participate.’ because this is 100% the legal meaning of presumption of innocence. as a sort of half-assed concession, victims or witnesses fearing for their safety can request identity protection, but they have to provide evidence that they are under threat - aka feeling threatened is no longer enough.
5. limits on pre-trial arrests for non-violent crimes. this is one of the gift-wrapped amendments for corrupt politicians. in practice, people accused of fraud, embezzlement, perjury or other non-violent crimes may no longer be detained for up to 30 days ahead of their trial. this could allow them to flee to countries that have no extradition treaties with romania, like ukraine, moldova, serbia, costa rica, madagascar and israel. some high-level politicians have already done this even without the new amendments in place. elena udrea’s case is currently the most notorious - she received a 6 year prison sentence for using public funds to pay for a private sports event and is currently in costa rica, where she was granted political asylum on the grounds of ‘being persecuted’ in her home country.
6. in rem cases must be closed after one year. under romanian law, in rem investigations are used when the crime is known, but there isn’t enough evidence to accuse someone. an in rem case becomes in personam when a suspect has been identified. the proposed changes to the criminal code would force prosecutors to close any such case if no suspect has been found after one year. probably the most famous in rem case that took longer than one year to become in personam was the 2015 colectiv nightclub fire, where 64 people died and the club owners were eventually accused of negligent homicide. under the new criminal code, they would have gone free.
7. definitive sentences may be challenged unless all judges on the board signed the verdict. this is literally tailor-made for liviu dragnea, the head of the social-democratic party and current president of the chamber of deputies. like idk how to explain this to you, there are no legal arguments for this. he was tried for electoral fraud and sentenced to two years in prison, but 2 out of the 5 judges on the case did not sign the sentence on the dubious grounds that they were about to retire. if the new criminal code passes, dragnea will be able to re-open the case.
baratheonpilled
dededos
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
