Court drops particularly serious consequences from abuse of office in former mayor case

A three-judge panel of the Bucharest Court of Appeal decided on Wednesday to drop particularly serious consequences from the of abuse of office crime of which some of defendants in the Colectiv nightclub fire case, including former Bucharest District 4 Mayor Cristian Popescu-Piedone, are being charged with.

The court partially approved a change in the legal classification of the misdeeds and wrote out the application of Article 309 of the Criminal Code (Acts that have produced serious consequences), in relation to the crime of abuse of office for which the court of first instance handed Piedone a sentence of eight years and six months in prison.

Under Article 309, if misdeeds produce serious consequences, special limits of the sentence provided by law shall be increased by half.

In an open letter, survivors of the 2015 fire at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest City and relatives of the victims voice disagreement over the court's decision to discuss changing the legal classification of the defendants' facts, claiming that that would lead to "small and insignificant penalties disproportionate to the committed misdeeds and their consequences, which would cast a long shadow over the entire justice process in Romania."

The next trial date was set for November 17, Agerpres informs.