Pardon bill returns to the Romanian Senate’s Legal Committee

Romania’s Senate decided yesterday to return the pardon law to the Senate’s Legal Committee, so that it would be adopted in the form that had been proposed by the Government at the end of January. Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu previously announced that the law would return to the Senate’s Legal Committee because the PSD-ALDE majority did not support the amendments passed by MPs, which were not “opportune”. Tariceanu said that it’s necessary to have discussions with representatives of the Justice Ministry and the Superior Council of Magistracy, although these already took part at the discussions of the Legal Committee. On Thursday last week, the committee finalized the debates on the pardon bill following three sessions in which a series of amendments had been brought to the draft law submitted by the Government on January 31. These include pardon for prison sentences of up to three years, a three-year reduction for sentences of up to ten years, a half-sentence for pregnant women, and full pardon for people who are older than 70. The Government proposed the pardoning of prison sentences of up to five years. However, most of the talks revolve around what crimes should be exempted from pardoning as some MPs, including former President Traian Basescu, proposed that some corruption sentences are pardoned. editor@romania-insider.com