Newly elected Vice-President of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) Codrut Olaru stated on Friday that it will also serve Justice Minister's direct interests if prosecutors' independence doesn't become "just a figure of speech" and remains a certainty instead.
Within the CSM sitting, Codrut Olaru was asked to what extend the authority of the Justice Minister can interfere with the activity of prosecutors.
"I believe that, currently, there are sufficient leverages through which the Justice Minister can request to the prosecutor general, specialist structures, briefings regarding the stage of certain punctual matters, [the minister] can promote and develop the disciplinary action in relation to the magistrate-prosecutor, he can request controls on the content or on a certain thematic. Regardless of the person leading this ministry, I believe that it is in the Justice Minister's direct interest that the independence do not become insubstantial at the Public Ministry level, but a certainty. I am absolutely convinced that currently, but also in the future, we cannot have a direct interference over the prosecutors' activity. (...) Currently, according to the legal framework in force, it definitely is out of the question to undermine, not even tangential, the criminal prosecution activity. Besides those briefings that the Justice Minister can request, I don't think that there are other ways in which the Public Ministry can and is influenced in terms of criminal prosecution," Olaru stated.
In respect to the amendments recently brought to the Justice Laws, Codrut Olaru mentioned that he endorses the position of the Public Ministry regarding the unconstitutionality of some provisions, adding that "prosecutors need total, constitutional and legal guarantees in order to defend independence."
AGERPRES .