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The Italian Embassy in Bucharest on Friday said that it was taking note of the ongoing investigations and was confident that the Romanian institutions will get involved to shed light in the case of the recent conflict between Senator Diana Sosoaca and a team of Italian journalists.
"Regarding the event in which RAI correspondent Lucia Goracci and her team were involved on December 10 in Bucharest, the Italian Embassy in Romania voices its appreciation for the statements made by the Romanian side, at the highest institutional level, condemning the aggression suffered by the journalist and the television team and defending at the same time the role of journalists and the freedom of information," the diplomatic mission states in a press release sent to AGERPRES.
On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis said the incident was "absolutely unfortunate" and that the authorities should check what happened and how the entire situation was handled.
"I request a serious investigation so that we do not have such an incident again, which is absolutely unfortunate and, to be honest, would have been unimaginable until now," the head of state said.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca also labeled the conflict as "unacceptable" and strongly rejected "the manifestation of differences of opinion through violence," adding that this case "must be clarified as a matter of urgency."
On September 10, Senator Diana Sosoaca gave an interview to an Italian television crew at her law firm. Following the police checks, it turned out that, at one point, the journalists intended to leave the office, in which context she allegedly closed the door, called 112 and would not let them leave until the arrival of the police.
IGPR (General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police) spokesman Georgian Dragan said that in the four minutes between the moment when the Senator called 112 and until the arrival of the police, several contradictory discussions took place between the journalists and Sosoaca, and the scandal continued even after the arrival of the law enforcement forces, Agerpres.ro informs.
"The appellant's husband allegedly pushed and grabbed a police officer by the neck and struck the Italian journalist at the same time. Immediately after the intervention, the journalists came out on the staircase of the block, and the conflict has been settled," Dragan said.
Dumitru Silvestru Sosoaca, the Senator's husband, is being prosecuted by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Capital City District 1 Court, under judicial control, for assault.
Diana Sosoaca and her husband went to the police station where the Italian journalists were, and she said that she had filed a criminal complaint against them for committing several crimes, among which she said it was possible that they had stolen documents from her office and that they had drugs in their possession.
"According to the legal procedures in force, the police officers had the obligation to pursue the complaint and carried out a brief body check, as well as of the luggage, as a result of which they didn't find any stolen goods and any banned substances, so that the accusations were unfounded," explained Georgian Dragan.
