Bucharest Magistrates Stage Protests Against Government Judicial Decree

Approximately 200 judges and magistrates staged a protest on Friday evening in front of Bucharest’s Palace of Justice against a Government decree adopted earlier this week which amends several judicial bills.

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The magistrates held papers with messages such as “judicial independence”, “Constitution”, “rule of law” and “Dear colleagues, magistrates can protest”.

Similar protests were held during the day by magistrates in Timisoara, Oradea, Sibiu and Cluj, while prosecutor’s offices in Bucharest, Timis, Constanta, Arges, Pitesti and the Cluj Court announced that they will suspend their non-urgent activities for various periods next week.

Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced the decree in question on Tuesday and presented several of its amendments, mainly regarding the criteria for appointing top prosecutors.

In addition, the bill contains several changes to the contest for admission into the National Institute of Magistracy (INM) and the attributions of the Supreme Court’s Section for Investigating Judicial Offences (SIIJ) chief-prosecutor, and blocks delegations into chief prosecutor roles.

The decree amends the procedure for appointing top prosecutors, with candidacies to be reviewed by the plenary of the country’s top judicial watchdog, the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM), instead of the institution’s Prosecutors’ Section, as was the case until now.

It also extends the eligibility criteria for top prosecutor offices to judges who have previously been prosecutors, instead of only prosecutors who are active at the time of the nomination.

The act was criticized by Romania’s main prosecutors’ offices, but also by top judicial watchdog CSM’s Prosecutors’ Section and by National Union of Romanian Judges. The institutions accused that its provisions might block the agencies’ activities and infringe on the principle of separating the careers of judges and prosecutors.

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