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Romanian Justice Minister Calls On Magistrates To Cease Illegal Protests

Romanian justice minister Catalin Predoiu on Wednesday called on magistrates to do their job and stop halting activity in courts, after trials were halted temporarily over the past two days, in protest to the ministry’s decision to cut a 50% wage bonus for justice system staff.
Romanian Justice Minister Calls On Magistrates To Cease Illegal Protests
08 iul. 2009, 13:03, English

The minister underscored, during a press conference Wednesday, that such protests are breaking the law and the statute of magistrates. The minister also called on the High Council of Magistrates to take action.

"I call on magistrates to stop halting activity,” the minister said.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals on Tuesday suspended the order of the Ministry of Justice that halted the granting of a 50% bonus for mental distress to magistrates and court staff, in a suite filed by judges and auxiliary staff of the Bucharest Court and the Bucharest Prosecutors’ Office.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals sustained the suite filed by Bucharest Court staff against the Ministry of Justice and that filed by the Bucharest Prosecutors’ Office against the prosecutor general. The court also sustained similar suits filed by magistrates in the counties of Mehedinti and Valcea.

The rulings are not final and may be appealed at the High Court of Justice.

Court sessions in courts of law in Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov county were suspended for two hours Tuesday, as magistrates and auxiliary staff showed discontent with the Justice Ministry’s decision to scrap a bonus for mental distress, worth 50% of their wages.