Bucharest Tribunal judge to stand trial for bribery

Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) sent Bucharest Tribunal judge Elena Burlan to court for bribery, the prosecution office announced. The DNA prosecutors accuse the judge of receiving bribes worth EUR 63,000 in 2009-2010, from defendants sent to court for violent crimes. In exchange for the money, the judge ruled suspended prison sentences in their case. In one of the cases, the judge allegedly received EUR 10,000 to replace the preventive arrest measure with a ban on leaving the place of residence, as well as another EUR 30,000 to rule suspended sentences for all nine defendants. In the second case, Burlan received EUR 8,000 to replace the preventive arrest measure with the ban to leave the city, and another EUR 15,000 to rule suspended sentences for four of the five defendants. However, for the fifth defendant, who was a minor at that time, the judge ruled a prison sentence because his father refused to pay the amount requested by the magistrate, according to DNA. The Bucharest Court of Appeal later overruled Elena Burlan’s sentences and convicted the defendants to jail. The case was sent to trial at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com (photo source: Adobe Stock)