Top Anti-Terrorism Body Suspends Activity Until March 8 In Protest Against Judicial Decree

In a statement, the institution announced that a large majority of its General Assembly voted in favor of suspending its activity, with the exception of emergencies, between 8 and 12 each day until March 8. The protest will begin on Tuesday.

DIICOT prosecutors said that the Government’s four major amendments to judicial bills in the past six months severely affected the activity of the country’s main prosecuting bodies and the overall stability of the judicial system.

“This series of substantial amendments initiated within a couple of months can seriously affect the activity of both the Superior Council of the Magistracy and of the Public Ministry, as well as the correct functioning and stability of the judicial system in its entirety, with consequences on how the act of justice is ma

It also said that decree adopted last week contained “numerous instances of unconstitutionality” and that the executive did not grant Romania’s top judicial watchdog CSM a reasonable amount of time to discuss its provisions.

The institution urged the country’s ombudsman to challenge the bill at the Constitutional Court and announced that they will forward the statement to the EU Court of Justice.

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.