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Minister of Interior Carmen Dan on Wednesday said she was disappointed to hear that an officer from the Police Academy is suspected of having sent threatening messages to journalist Emilia Sercan, also adding that this educational institution's leadership has "much explaining to do".
"I cannot say how disappointed and disgusted I was to find out that an officer from the Police Academy was suspected of having sent threatening messages to journalist Emilia Sercan. I cannot interfere in any way with the criminal investigation and I don't want you to think that I establish who is guilty of what instead of the investigators, but I do think that the leadership of this institution has much explaining to do. Not only related to the case that I have just mentioned, but related to the current state of affairs at the top educational institution for police officers. We probably need more time to change the minds of those who perpetuate the practices of a system tailored by them for themselves. And I do have time, but I don't know if the honest people in the system will have enough patience," Carmen Dan wrote on her Facebook page.
The Minister mentioned that this particular public statement was only one of the steps she intends to make, with the next one being to notify the relevant authorities, as she "won't encourage a cover up."
"You want to bring out the truth or just leave the impression that you apply the principle "one hand washes the other, while both stain the image of some institutions that should be models of integrity and morality." Considering that the Internet is full with posts of journalists signaling significant similarities of many pages between PhD theses evaluated by the Ethics Committee, I believe that the Police Academy needs to make public the decisions of this Committee. And I am quite aware of the fact that this Committee functions under the umbrella of university autonomy, but I also know very well that one of the principles of autonomy is transparency. When there is no transparency we can all remain with the impression that these decisions are just understandings between colleagues wearing the same uniform," said Dan.
According to a judiciary source, the police identified the man who threatened journalist Emilia Sercan and that he was a police office, employee of the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Police Academy in Bucharest.
Police officer Adrian George Barbulescu was found in Slatina and brought to Bucharest as a suspect, with two search warrants existing to his name.
Last week, the Minister of Interior, Carmen Dan, showed concern related to the threat received by journalist Emilia Sercan, who announced at that time that the police was conducting an investigation into this case.
