5 November: Thousands of protesters against changes to Justice Laws

Wide protests took place on Sunday evening in Bucharest and several big cities in Romania following Coalition's intention to amend the current laws of Justice.

According to Radio Romania Reporters and Regional Correspondents, over 20000 people went out on the streets of Bucharest and other cities in Romania and abroad.

“I’m a lawyer, I’ve never come out on the street to protest, but now that I see that the rule of law is in danger, I’m joining the protesters. To get in a situation to see lawmakers make laws only in favor of protégés is a very bad thing. Justice is the core element of the Rule of Law”, one of the protesters said.

“We don’t want to be a nation of thieves!” was the slogan.

These new protests come as the Parliament is currently debating a series of new changes to the justice laws, some of which may limit Justice independence and impact the fight against corruption.

A draft project sent to the Parliament by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader aims to remove the President from the appointment of the country’s top prosecutors and to bring the Judicial Inspection, which investigates local magistrates’ misconduct, under the Justice Minister’s authority.

President Klaus Iohannis, the European Commission as well as thousands of judges and prosecutors in Romania expressed their worries about these changes that may bring Justice under political control.

MPs of the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) said they would bring significant changes to the Justice Minister’s project. Last week, the Senate’s Judicial Committee issued a negative opinion on a draft law aiming to bar people with criminal convictions from becoming President of Romania.

Former Justice Minister Florin Iordache, who leads a special parliamentary committee for changing the justice legislation, again stated that he wanted a “modest” threshold under which abuse of office would not be considered a crime. At the end of January, while he was justice minister, Iordache initiated an emergency ordinance that aimed to change the criminal code and set a RON 200,000 limit under which abuse of office would not be incriminated. The ordinance, which was approved in a late Cabinet meeting, triggered the biggest protests in Romania’s recent history. As a result of those protests, the Sorin Grindeanu Government repealed that ordinance and Iordache resigned.

Protests of Sunday, November 5, took place in Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj, Timisoara, Sibiu, Iasi, Braila, Constanta, Oradea, Pitesti, Galati, Targu Mures, Targu Ocna, Radauti, Focsani, Suceava. Abroad, protests took place in Zurich, Paris, Berlin, Rome, London and Toronto.

Apart of the new amendments to the Laws of Justice, people also protested against the recent proposals for fiscal changes.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei