Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued its first response to the Recorder documentary alleging systemic manipulation within the justice system, calling the investigation an amplification of a “campaign to destabilize judicial authority.” The council said on Thursday, December 11, that it will evaluate what measures need to be taken following the report.

In a press release quoted by Agerpres, the CSM’s Section for Judges argued that the documentary aims to undermine public confidence in the justice system and in judicial leaders who have consistently defended judicial independence.

The council linked the release of the investigation to what it described as a "coordinated sequence of actions targeting the judiciary" - from public debates on service pensions and magistrates’ salaries to protests and calls for revolt, including from the president of Romania. The statement said the documentary’s publication on the eve of a Constitutional Court ruling on the magistrates’ pension law was the culmination of this trend.

“The allegations in the report run counter to the assessments made in recent years of the justice system, including the lifting of the CVM by the European Commission, the subsequent Rule of Law reports (2023, 2024 and 2025), Romania’s entry into the Schengen Area, and the OECD accession process - all of which presuppose the existence of a functional rule of law,” reads the CSM press release.

Further on, the council defended judicial procedures criticized in the investigation, stating that temporary transfers and delegations cannot occur without a judge’s explicit consent and that judicial panels are not formed at the sole discretion of a court president. It noted that decisions concerning panel assignments and transfer refusals can be challenged, ensuring legal oversight. These mechanisms, the council said, provide sufficient safeguards to address what it called the “so-called revelations” in the report.

The Recorder investigation, which gathered more than 2 million views on YouTube in just over a day, features prosecutors and judges, some speaking anonymously, who describe alleged systematic intervention by the leadership of the Bucharest Court of Appeal to reshuffle judicial panels in order to secure favorable decisions for defendants in corruption cases. The files mentioned include those involving Marian Vanghelie, Cristian Burci, and Puiu Popoviciu.

CSM also warned that generalizing isolated allegations and selectively citing criminal cases, which, it said, represent only 10% of all court files, could destabilize the judiciary and ultimately harm citizens’ rights. The institution said it is reviewing possible steps to be taken and urged the public “not to be influenced by isolated positions,” reaffirming its commitment to safeguarding judicial independence despite external pressure.

Meanwhile, USR leader Dominic Fritz has called on the minister of justice to begin dismissal proceedings for the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), Marius Voineag, following the revelations in the documentary. He also urged amendments to the Justice Laws to dismantle what he described as the “pyramidal control system” over magistrates and case assignments.

The reaction came after the Recorder documentary also referred to a decline in the number of high-level corruption cases handled by the DNA in recent years. Former and current DNA prosecutors told the investigative journalists that the institution’s tone changed after Marius Voineag became chief prosecutor.

Hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday evening, December 10, in front of the CSM headquarters in Bucharest, in the context of the Recorder investigation into the state of the judiciary in Romania. The demonstrators chanted slogans for an independent judiciary: "We want justice, not immunity", "Independent magistrates, not obedient", "Justice, not mafia", "Integrity, not complicity." Also, they called for the resignation of the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Lia Savonea, and of the minister of justice, Radu Marinescu.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)