Former Romanian minister accused of manslaughter says he may resign from the Parliament

Former Romanian interior minister Gabriel Oprea, who earlier this week escaped prosecution after his fellow senators voted against the prosecutors’ request in this sense, said on Wednesday evening that he may resign from the Parliament before the elections in December. He made the statement in a TV show at local television station Antena 3. When the presenter asked him if he would resign and lose his immunity, Oprea said: “Yes, this is possible. I am considering this.” He also said that he asked the senators to vote against the National Anticorruption Department DNA’s request because he felt harassed. “I felt attacked, and I accepted my colleagues’ support. I asked to be investigated, and I didn’t want this vote. I think I broke down and I accepted this vote, which came from all parties,” Gabriel Oprea said. The former minister added that he would not run in the December parliamentary elections. This means that he is to lose his immunity anyway after the elections. The Senate decided on Monday to protect former interior minister Gabriel Oprea from prosecution in the case in which he was charged with manslaughter after a young policeman died while opening the way for the minister’s motorcade, and this has triggered many reactions in Romania. Thousands of Romanians have rallied on Facebook, unhappy with the MPs’ decision, planning protests in Bucharest, Timisoara, Brasov, Constanta, Cluj, Craiova, Iasi, Galati, and Braila. The protests are to start today at 18:00. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.