Amendments to Criminal Proceedings Code will increase number of unwarranted cases, lawyer

The Center of Initiatives and Monitoring of Public Authorities anticipate that the amendments to the Code of Criminal Proceedings, to take effect on October 27, will only increase the number of criminal cases initiated without justification and according to selective criteria. The Center's head Ion Dron told a press conference on Monday that changes will remove the frail existing system that prevents such abuses. The NGO asked the Parliament and each of the parliamentary groups to delay the application of these amendments. Under the amendments, criminal proceedings are considered started from the moment when the relevant body takes note of a crime, either committed or in preparation. The lawyer explained that this means that from October 27, any calumnious statement written by a self-proclaimed victim would unconditionally mean that criminal proceedings are initiated against the calumniated person. The fake victim won't even be warned about the accountability for calumnious accusation. The lawyer says that instead of offering means of protection against such calumnies, the authors of the amendments propose that the suspect shouldn't be told about the prosecution for up to 6 months. “In the meantime, the person's home might be violated through installation of audio and video surveillance. The suspect's mail might be seized and the phone wiretapped. It is remarkable that while these provisions have been included, those regarding the obligation to monitor the quality of the prosecutor's proceedings-related actions have been removed”, said Ion Dron. The lawyer also said that other amendments stipulate that from October 27, a small group headed by the Prosecutor General will have under unconditional supervision, without counterbalancing means, the whole criminal investigation and prosecution process in the country. From the same day on, the opinion of the territorial prosecutor or of the one in charge of the investigation won't matter anymore, as the Prosecutor General's Office agents can intervene decisively in the finalization of any case, claims Ion Dron. Under the new provisions, if a person was unjustifiably prosecuted or if the person was acquitted, the prosecutor who was in charge of the criminal proceedings won't be required anymore to offer official apologies to the person in question. According to Ion Dron, even if these amendments were developed with the financial support of foreign partners, their spirit is cynical. “Some parts are more appropriate for a police state than for a state based on the rule of law”, he said. “We'll have the bad luck to live in a police state on European money from October 27”. The amendments to the Code of Criminal Proceedings was developed by the Ministry of Justice and adopted by Parliament in April.