Controversial judge is sole candidate for top seat at High Court in Romania

Lia Savonea, currently serving as a judge at the High Court in Romania, is the only candidate for the top seat in the institution in a selection process initiated by the Superior Council of Magistracy four months before the end of the term currently held by Alina Corbu. The timing, the absence of other candidates, and the controversial rulings issued by Savonea in the past prompted criticism.

Lia Savonea is the former head of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) and former president of the Bucharest Court of Appeal. Her name was associated with the so-called "Voicu group" (controlled by Social Democrat MP Cătălin Voicu) in the judiciary, according to G4Media.

In 2009, anticorruption prosecutors dismantled a group of politicians, businessmen, and magistrates from the High Court, coordinated by former PSD senator Cătălin Voicu. He was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment for corruption. Lia Savonea's husband, lawyer Mihai Savonea, had a law firm in the same building as former senator and lawyer Cătălin Voicu.

Appointed at CSM in 2016, Lia Savonea quickly became perceived as the most influential member of the Council and, in particular, of the Sections for Judges and in Disciplinary Matters for Judges. These sections decided on the promotions of magistrates to management positions and the disciplinary sanctions of several troublesome magistrates such as Cristi Danileț, Daniela Panioglu, and Crina Muntean.

Lia Savonea was seen as the leader of the anti-reformist group in the CSM that justified the PSD's amendments to the Justice laws during Dragnea's time, imposed the prosecutors of the Special Section and the head of the Judicial Inspection, who harassed inconvenient magistrates.

In 2023, Savonea was promoted to the High Court of Justice following an interview even though former Justice Minister Stelian Ion revealed that she had sentenced a man to 8 months in prison with a suspended sentence for sexual intercourse with his 13-year-old niece, justifying that the girl had given her consent.

(Photo: Khwaneigq/ Dreamstime)