CSM: Iohannis's statements regarding Girbovan, 'manifest attack on independence and prestige of justice'

The statements made by Klaus Iohannis regarding Dana Girbovan represent a "manifest attack on the independence and prestige of justice", the Section for Judges of the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) claims. 

"In regards to the statements made by the President of Romania formulated on Wednesday, on the occasion of the rejection of the appointment as Minister of Justice of a judge, the Section for Judges of the Supreme Council of Magistracy publicly condemns such acts as being particularly grave interferences in the independence of justice," a press release remitted on Thursday to AGERPRES. 

The representatives of the Section for Judges emphasize "firmly" that the motivation presented publicly by the President of Romania to justify the rejection of the proposal for Minister of Justice of a judge by "unjustified and unproven" references regarding her independence and professional probity represents a grave infringement of the independence and prestige of justice. 

According to the quoted source, the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the judiciary power, through the courts of law, are the only authorities, by the provisions expressly mentioned in the Constitution and the organic laws, who are able to decide if a judge has or does not have the traits requested by law to exercise their position. 

"The statements of the President of Romania towards the person proposed for the position of Minister of Justice, person who has fulfilled the role of judge for more than 19 years, represents, in lack of any establishment of their veracity as part of the legal and constitutional mechanisms mentioned earlier, a manifest attack on the independence and prestige of justice," the Section for Judges of the CSM mentions. 

The section for judges also shows that it has emphasized on numerous occasions and reiterates in the current circumstances that, regardless of the social and political climate, the representatives of state institutions must prove in their public discourse balance and prudence, and no situation can justify infringing the constitutional guarantees regarding the independence of justice. 

"Not least, the Section for Judges considers that the program proposed by the rejected candidate for Minister of Justice would have contributed to improving conditions in justice and it is blameworthy that political disputes were considered more important than developing a justice system that would be better for the citizen," the release also shows.