Romanian investor heard by prosecutors in prison literature case

Romanian investor George Copos was heard at the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) yesterday morning in a case related to the books written in jail by several prisoners, including himself, which have helped them reduce their sentences. Copos faces prosecution for plagiarism after allegedly copying a scientific work he published while in jail to benefit from early release. Copos served 423 days in prison from a 4-year sentence. When they decided to release him on parole, in April 2015, the judges deducted 52 days of work Copos did while in jail and 150 days for the five books he wrote in that period. The scandal started when a young Romanian historian, Catalin Parfene, said that Copos had plagiarized his dissertation, which he had presented at Bucharest University’s History Faculty in 2005. DNA opened in January a criminal case on books written by prisoners to shorten their sentence. The investigation targets university teachers who coordinated or validated these works, representatives of publishing houses who agreed to publish the books, as well as employees of the National Prison Administration who approved the prisoners’ early release based on these books. editor@romania-insider.com