Pardon law enters Romanian Senate for final vote today

The draft law on pardon, which was finalized on Thursday by the Senate’s Legal Committee, is expected to enter the Senate's plenary session for debate and final vote today. On Thursday, 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 had initially planned to pardon prison sentences of up to five years. Several amendments proposed by the former Romanian President Traian Basescu were rejected by the Senate's Legal Committee. These included pardoning women convicted of corruption. However, the most controversial amendments included the pardoning of corruption deeds. They were initially approved on Wednesday, but repealed on Thursday. Several hundred people protested in Bucharest’s Victoriei Square against the pardon law yesterday, despite the rain. Romanian Senate committee overturns pardoning of bribery and influence peddling editor@romania-insider.com