New Prosecutor Dismissal In Romanian Inmate Release Aftermath

Also, on April 29, the Romanian High Council of Magistrates decided to exclude from magistracy judge Maria Nicola, of the Dolj Court, who allowed the request for temporary release issued by inmate Serghei Gorbunov, a request revealed to be false.

 

Council president Virgil Andreies announced on February 20 that “disciplinary action” has been initiated against prosecutor Marius Vladoianu by the discipline commission for prosecutors, under the suspicion that Vladoianu exercised his duties with "severe negligence".

 

Andreies said two committees of the Council are analyzing if judge Maria Nicola – who decided the temporary discontinuation of inmate Serghei Gorbunov’s sentence – and prosecutor Marius Vladoianu performed their legal and regulated obligations.

 

The High Council of Magistrates decided to dismiss three chief prosecutors of the Dolj Prosecution Office, two judges from the Brasov Court and another two judges from the Dolj Court. In addition, disciplinary investigations have been initiated regarding the circumstances in which Gorbunov was released for three months from prison, on medical grounds, without the courts moving to bring him back to prison.

 

The hearings and inspections came in the aftermath of an armed robbery occurring on January 29 in central Romanian city Brasov, at a currency exchange house. The attack resulted in two fatalities and the severe injuring of a third victim. At that time, the main suspect for the double homicide was Seghei Gorbunov, a convicted felon serving time in the Craiova Maximum Security Prison, who had been temporarily released from prison on the claim that he had glaucoma and needed surgery. The surgery was never performed.

 

The decision rendered by judge Maria Nicola on May 5, 2008, was not challenged, as prosecutors decided an appeal was not due. Thus, on May 16 Gorbunov left the penitentiary and was only brought back to jail after the armed robbery on January 29.

 

Following procedure flaws found immediately after the initiation of investigations in the armed robbery case, the High Council of Magistrates and the Romanian prosecutor general requested investigations of the manner in which the Gorbunov case was handled.

 

On the other hand, the Romanian National Anticorruption Department initiated an inquiry on the suspicions of corruption involving several people tied to Gorbunov’s release.