Over 1,000 Romanian magistrates sign letter in support of justice independence

More than 1,000 magistrates signed an open letter in which they show their support for justice independence and the judiciary system in Romania, amid the public scandal around the activity of the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) and its chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi. According to the magistrates, the recent public debates threaten the independence of the judiciary and the course of the Romanian state within the European Union, local Digi24 reported. “At the moment, incoherent expressions of political factors, in a country torn by an endemic corruption, are accompanied by numerous actions of public opinion manipulation and unprecedented attacks on many judges and prosecutors who also investigate cases of high level corruption, but also of the most important institutions of the state, with a role of defense and public security, especially the National Anticorruption Directorate ", the open letter reads. The magistrates also said that the justice minister doesn’t take into account that certain procedures are ongoing at the Judicial Inspection, the Superior Council of Magistracy or, as the case may be, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, inducing in the public opinion a feeling of mistrust in the judges and prosecutors who are part of these institutions. In this context, they add that they are not afraid of the criticisms made in good faith but that the professional reputation is a fundamental value in exercising the magistrate function. Last week, justice minister Tudorel Toader held an 80-minute press conference during which he presented a report comprising 20 “facts and acts” related to the activity of DNA chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi in the last year. Most of them were negative, and thus the minister requested the dismissal of Kovesi. The minister accused Kovesi of disregarding the Constitution and the Constitutional Court, running the DNA in an authoritarian manner and tolerating alleged misbehavior by some of her prosecutors, and of damaging Romania’s image abroad with her statements in various interviews she gave to international publications, among others. 135 of the 183 prosecutors working within DNA also reacted to the minister’s report, which they said is based on untruths, assumptions, and unverified press information. Their statement comes after two local news stations presented alleged evidence that anticorruption prosecutors fabricate evidence. The recent allegations have triggered many political reactions, especially from members of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), which have finally led to the justice minister’s decision to ask the dismissal of DNA chief Laura Codruta Kovesi.