Romania takes first step to increase penalties for violating protection orders

The Romanian Senate adopted a draft law that automatically extends provisional protection orders and increases penalties for violating them on Monday, October 27. A total of 120 votes were recorded in favor.

The bill extends provisional protection until the resolution in the first instance of the request for it, amending Law no. 217/2003 on preventing and combating domestic violence.

According to the draft, “the prosecutor immediately communicates the provisional order to the police. The police then take measures to immediately inform the persons covered by the order.”

The draft also removes the possibility for the victim to withdraw the request for the issuance of the protection order when the request was filed on behalf of the victim by the prosecutor or an accredited social service. Furthermore, it establishes an increase in penalties for violating the protection order in the case of aggressors who have previously committed such acts.

At the expiration of the duration of the protection measures, the protected person, institutions, and authorized persons may request a new protection order if there are indications that the life, physical or psychological integrity, or freedom of the protected person would be endangered.

At the same time, the law also provides for the elimination of the possibility of withdrawing the criminal complaint in cases of hitting or bodily injury by negligence against a family member.

Ana-Cynthia-Ioana Păun, a senator part of the reformist Save Romania Union (USR), noted that the draft brings more coherence in protecting victims of domestic violence. “It is a perfectly natural addition to a legislative framework that we are gradually building with each initiative, one that places safety before bureaucracy,” Păun said, cited by Agerpres.

The president of the Special Commission “Romania Without Domestic Violence,” liberal deputy Alina Gorghiu, declared that the adopted amendments lead to the “strengthening of real protection” for victims and to the closing of “legal loopholes that favored aggressors.”

The bill will move to the Chamber of Deputies for a final vote.

(Photo source: Designer491 | Dreamstime.com)