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Intelligence services have no place in the criminal process, because the independence and functioning of justice are being affected, which is an issue related to the rule of law, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor told AGERPRES on Wednesday.
He mentioned that the UDMR deputies voted on Wednesday, in the plenary sitting of the chamber, for the adoption of the draft law amending the Criminal Code in the version proposed by the Justice Ministry, but they abstained in terms of the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code - the last decision being related to the interference of intelligence services in justice, "which signifies going back in time."
"At the final voting on the Criminal Code, the UDMR deputies voted this draft law in the version proposed by the Government and Minister Predoiu [the Justice Minister - editor's note]. Here, we stated from the beginning that we will accept, in relation to the article on abuse of office, any proposal which comes from Minister Predoiu because it is about a purely technical matter and it has to come from there and not from the political parties, so it can be in accordance with the decisions of the Constitutional Court. First, we received a proposal of 250,000 RON threshold and we endorsed it, because that was the decision. After a few hours, we received another threshold - 9,000 RON - and we said we will endorse it. Yesterday afternoon, late, Predoiu proposed no threshold and we said that if this is a new proposal, this is what we shall endorse, because it is the responsibility of the Justice Ministry to come up with a proposal. Today, in Parliament's plenary as well, Predoiu argued that, from a constitutional point of view, it is alright. I have confidence in what the Justice Minister is saying, we will see if it's confirmed when the respective draft is challenged with the Constitutional Court," the deputy prime minister explained the motivation of the vote cast for the draft law amending the Criminal Code.
In terms of the Criminal Procedure Code, Kelemen Hunor showed that there hasn't been a decision related to the national security mandates and the UDMR deputies abstained from voting based on several arguments, firstly related to the rule of law and the separation of the powers in the state.
"We abstained because there are many arguments and these arguments are firstly related to the rule of law and the separation of powers in the state. The judicial power and certainly the part of criminal prosecution should not be mixed with any other power. Therefore, the intelligence services have no place in the criminal process. In the version voted by Parliament, which we did not vote, the SRI [the Romanian Intelligence Service] is introduced in the criminal process, we go back in time, by 10 years, even more, which affects the independence and functioning of justice," the UDMR leader stated.
The deputy prime minister also mentioned that these aspects have been discussed with Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, as well as in the ruling coalition and Parliament and added that the version cleared by Parliament refers to any criminal act and any criminal process, "which is unacceptable."
The Chamber of Deputies cleared on Wednesday the draft law amending the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code in the version which came from the Government, dismissing all the amendments formulated, including those introduced by the Senate. AGERPRES
