900 Days of Uninterrupted Siege upon the Romanian Magistracy A Survival Guide 900 Days of Uninterrupted Siege upon the Romanian Magistracy A Survival Guide The volume regards the events unfolding as far as the 1th of May 2020 Editura C.H. Beck Bucureşti 2020 Fundaţia Konrad Adenauer Programul Statul de Drept Europa de Sud-Est Klingelhöferstr. 23 Fundaţia Konrad Adenauer 10785 Berlin, Germania Strada Franzelarilor nr. 5 Telefon: (+49) (0)30 269 96 453 020785 Bucureşti Fax: (+49) (0)30 269 96 555 România Website: www.kas.de Telefon: (+40) (0) 21 302 02 63 Fax: (+40) (0) 21 323 31 27 E-mail: offi [email protected] Website: www.kas.de/rlpsee Editura C.H. Beck este acreditată CNATDCU şi este considerată editură cu prestigiu recunoscut 900 Days of Uninterrupted Siege upon the Romanian Magistracy A Survival Guide Copyright © 2020 – Editura C.H. Beck Toate drepturile rezervate Editurii C.H. Beck Nicio parte din această lucrare nu poate fi copiată fără acordul scris al Editurii C.H. Beck. Drepturile de distribuţie în străinătate aparţin în exclusivitate editurii. Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României 900 days of uninterrupted siege upon the Romanian magistracy : a survival guide / Dan Tăpălagă, Dragoş Călin, Ciprian Coadă, .... – Bucureşti : Editura C.H. Beck, 2020 ISBN 978-606-18-1035-2 I. Tăpălagă, Dan II. Călin, Dragoş III. Coadă, Ciprian 34 Editura C.H. BECK Coordonator volum: Bucureşti, Calea Plevnei nr. 172, sector 6 Dragoș Călin Tel.: 021.410.08.47; 021.410.08.73 Traducere în engleză de: Fax: 021.410.08.48 George Scărlătescu, INA Traduceri E-mail: [email protected] Corectură: Alina Gioroceanu Dragoș Călin Fotografi i: Drepturile de utilizare pentru fotografi ile de la interior și cea de pe copertă au fost achiziționate de la Inquam Photo Agency. Mulțumim pentru permisiunea de a le utiliza pentru acest volum. Această publicaţie se distribuie gratuit şi este parte a unui proiect iniţiat de Asociația Forumul Judecătorilor din România, cu sprijinul Programului Statul de Drept Europa de Sud-Est al Fundaţiei Konrad Adenauer. © 2020 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. Contents Contents Authors’ Note .........................................................................................................................VII Preface by Hartmut Rank, KAS Rule of Law Programme South East Europe ................IX Preface by Diego Garcia-Sayan, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers ......................................................................................................XI Introduction by Dan Tăpălagă, journalist .........................................................................XIII Dragoș Călin – Changes Brought to the “Justice Laws” during the 2017-2019 Interval. The Serious Impairment of the Rule of Law principles. Remedies ...............1 Ciprian Coadă – Changes Brought to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Avoiding a Heralded Disaster ...........................................................41 Augustin Lazăr – Prosecutors’ Independence and the Rule of Law. On Character and Professionalism in Justice ...............................................................93 Cristi Danileț – Justice versus Politics: from Inability to Independence .................... 107 Dragoș Călin – The Evolution of the Superior Council of Magistracy. Between Effi ciency and Indiff erence ..........................................................................143 Bogdan Pîrlog, Sorin Marian Lia – A Guide on the Harassment of Inconvenient Magistrates ............................................................................................ 187 Dragoș Călin – The Constitutional Court of Romania and the Rule of Law Standards ..................................................................................................211 Ciprian Coadă – Theoretical and Practical Matters on the Predictability of the National Constitution Case-law, with Direct Implications on Certain Public Authority and Procedural Criminal Legal Relationships in Romania .......... 229 Anca Gheorghiu, Anamaria Lucia Zaharia – Support Provided to the Romanian Magistracy by International Bodies ...................................................273 Veronica Sîrbu – Justice from outside the Bubble. People of the Citadel and People of Justice .................................................................................................... 285 Alina Gioroceanu – Add One Step! ................................................................................. 293 Alinel Bodnar – Young Magistrates’ Viewpoint on the Justice System ........................315 Conclusions by Raluca Prună, former minister of justice ............................................ 329 Index ..................................................................................................................................... 335 V Authors’ note Authors’ note The volume “900 days of uninterrupted siege upon the Romanian magistracy. A survival guide” intends to outline a narrative of the Romanian magistrates’ actions endorsing the rule of law and the independence of Magistracy during the 2017-2019 interval, analysing the conduct of public authorities and the various reactions displayed by judges and prosecutors. The book, written by judges and prosecutors, is equally meant for magistrates and, in particular, for the general public, civil society and all those who are able to learn lessons from the entire context. At the same time, the practical example provided is likely to incentivise similar reactions throughout the pools of magistrates in Romania’s neighbouring countries, with comparable legislative and judicial scenes, in societies still transitioning after extended dictatorships. Each author felt the need to mention as much as possible, to describe their own experience, their own perception, their own individual actions and collective or associative episodes, all concerned with the same ideals – probity, independence, integrity, spirit of justice, without which the judge or prosecutor profession cannot exist. From this standpoint, the 2017-2019 period was enlightening, the conduct of each magistrate, but also that of the jurists’ ilk, in general, shaping up around the values individually shared by these persons. For an independent justice and a functional rule of law, certain magistrates chose to be daily targets of slander and libel in the media loyal to the political rulers of the time, ceaseless public or private threats, investigations by the Judicial Inspection and the new Special Section, while others, especially those holding decision-making position, either locked themselves in their offi ces or settled with the political establishment, also being rewarded with nominations for Government portfolios, in defi ance of the entire profession. Nevertheless, a remarkable moment shall forever live in everyone’s memory, namely more than half the magistrates supporting a Memorandum, initiated by the Romanian Judges’ Forum, demanding the withdrawal of the draft amendments to the justice laws. This gesture, followed by the overwhelming majority votes of the general assemblies organised in that period, is symbolic, showing that Magistracy, both from within, but also with assistance from international bodies, can save the democracy of a state seemingly journeying through an endless transition. Furthermore, the fact that thousands of people took to the public squares in support of the rule of law and an independent magistracy is relevant for a nation’s destiny, for the ability to cleanse a society grafted onto corruption in its recent history. Attacks targeting the rule of law values will continue to exist, making it critical that the magistracy’s eff orts to defend its independence remain consistent, principles and VII 900 Days of Uninterrupted Siege upon the Romanian Magistracy a backbone being the only way forward. A behaviour of this nature will consolidate citizens’ trust in the positive development of a justice that can, with time, become more eff ective and more predictable. We would like to thank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation – Rule of Law Programme South East Europe for providing support in the publication of the present volume. The authors VIII Preface Preface I fi rst heard about the idea to write this book back in late 2018, in one of the regular meetings between Dragoș Călin and other judges from the Romanian Forum of Judges (FJR) with me and my colleagues from the RLPSEE of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). I was immediately interested, since analyzing and presenting developments in the judiciary in South East Europe, and particularly legal reforms, is something that the Rule of Law Programme South East Europe deals with regularly. To get a view from inside the system by having a number of judges presenting their view of the developments from 2017 to 2019 indeed sounded very promising. At that time, news about various plans to reform the Romanian judiciary were frequent. Almost every other day some legal reform news items would make it to the front-page of Romanian daily newspapers. Probably, to a large part of the Romanian population this must have had a tiring eff ect. At least, the stir-up in the legal system that was caused by proceedings, dismissals, allegations, accusations, confl icting announcements, draft reforms, the fable of a so called “deep state” (which is also mentioned by Dan Tăpălagă in his introduction to this book) and even several court disputes between higher state offi cials – must have had the eff ect of blurring the public’s view. Yet,