The Department of Penitentiary Institutions (DIP) claims the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) openly violates the procedural-penal principle of personal inviolability. The reaction comes after first deputy prosecutor general Andrei Pantea, in a news conference on August 12, said that some of the state institutions cooperate with the criminal world, especially with members of the criminal organization Makena, while the prosecutors investigating this case are pressurized into destroying the proofs, IPN reports.

According to the DIP, given that the guilt of the employees wasn’t proven in a fair trial and there is no definitive and irrevocable court decision in this respect, the PGO should refrain from making public accusations, playing the role of judges.

The Department says the employees accused in this case plead not guilty. They have sufficient evidence to show that their service within the penitentiary system was within the legal norms.

As to the supposed constraints imposed on a detainee with the aim of forcing him to make erroneous and calumnious statements about the driver of prosecutor Andrei Pantea, the DIP said that these assertions are unfounded. “The accusations made against the Department in the press briefing can be interpreted only as abusive insinuations aimed at establishing a connection between two facts that are in no way connected,” reads the communiqué.

In a press briefing, Andrei Pantea said that attempts are made to denigrate him and a number of prosecutors who represent the state prosecution in the Makena case.