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Prosecutor-in-chief of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Daniel Horodniceanu stated on Tuesday that the institution's efforts to strengthen the organised crime fighting capacity were undermined by the agenda related to the debates on the justice laws, adding that the attacks on the Public Ministry only manage to weaken the judicial system and reduce the strength of the Romanian state.
"We need more coordination and cooperation at the level of the entire national system of organised crime fighting. Obviously our efforts to strengthen the capacity to fight organised crime have been undermined by the agenda related to debates on the justice laws. As for this issue, we have constantly tried to express our stances and points of view regarding 2017's great debate, the Justice laws, through an expression strictly within the limits of our legal prerogatives," Daniel Horodniceanu stated at the presentation of the DIICOT report on 2017.
He added that the proposals for the amendment of the Justice laws could become a "chip" in the prosecutor's independence.
"It is true that, on the one hand, I gritted my teeth and, on the other hand, I refused compromises in order to be able to remain within this framework, because the challenges have been huge. It is an effort to stay within the limit I am talking to you about, once you understand, by reading the proposal for the legislative amendment, that directly or indirectly what will happen could become a chip in the prosecutor's independence, a disheartening, where it will find a place, of the prosecution exercise," the DIICOT Prosecutor-in-chief underscored.
According to Horodniceanu the attacks on the Public Ministry only weaken the judicial system.
"Any behaviour on behalf of a magistrate, such that it brings his/her criminal or disciplinary accountability, must be sanctioned in an exemplary manner as soon as possible. What must not happen is the generalisation of criticism in relation to part of or to the entirety of the judicial system. The attacks brought to the Public Ministry in corpore or to a directorate or division belonging to the latter only weaken the judicial system in its entirety and reduce the strength of the Romanian state. Just as in any other area, the errors and deviant behaviour must be approached and amended or removed point by point," Daniel Horodniceanu specified.
