The special parliamentary committee led by former justice minister Florin Iordache will debate several important amendments to the criminal codes today, including the abuse of office.

The committee will discuss proposals for the reconciliation of the criminal codes with Constitutional Court rulings, as well as the transposition of the European Parliament's Directive on the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at the trial.

The most controversial topic is introducing a new definition and a possible threshold for abuse of office. In November Iordache said that a reasonable threshold for abuse of office could amount to about RON 19,000 (EUR 4,100).

Another hot topic is an amendment introduced yesterday, which provides that it will be forbidden to make any public communication related to criminal cases that are still in the prosecution and court stage. This means that the news informing on new corruption cases could be forbidden.

During the trial, it will also be forbidden to show people charged with crimes wearing handcuffs, according to the same amendment. Showing people with handcuffs creates the perception that they are guilty, according to the MPs who introduced this amendment.

editor@romania-insider.com