Romanian TV Station Owner, TV Producer Arrested For 29 Days

Romanian television station owner Dan Diaconescu and his producer Doru Parv on Wednesday were placed into custody for 29 days, on charges of blackmailing and threatening a mayor.

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A lower court in capital Bucharest allowed prosecutors' request and ruled to place Diaconescu and Parv under preventive arrest.

The lawyers of the two defendants said they would appeal the court ruling with the Bucharest Court.

Diaconescu and Parv were heard by anticorruption prosecutors on Monday and the former was officially charged with blackmail in a corruption file opened in February 2010.

Prosecutors Tuesday morning detained Diaconescu and Parv for 24 hours for allegedly demanding money from Ion Mot, mayor of a commune in Arad county, western Romania, to avoid broadcasting compromising material about him.

According to sources close to the investigation, Mot accused Parv of soliciting bribe in order not to disclose on Diaconescu's TV channel images aimed to discredit him. The decision to start criminal investigation against Diaconescu, dated June 18, shows that the TV station owner threatened Mot, both directly and through Parv, in an attempt to get Mot to give them EUR200,000.

Daniel Fenechiu, Parv's lawyer, told MEDIAFAX Monday that prosecutors hold no other direct evidence against Diaconescu, except a recording of a TV show broadcast in 2009, adding that the complaint filed by Mot targeted only Parv, who made no accusations whatsoever against Diaconescu during hearings.

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