The professor from Cluj incarcerated in China has constantly been granted consular assistance from representatives of the consular office and the diplomatic mission, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informs.
"Since the case was reported, the Romanian citizen has constantly been granted consular assistance from the representatives of the consular office and the diplomatic mission, being regularly contacted and visited repeatedly. The diplomatic representatives have also kept in touch both with the family members of the Romanian citizen, as well as with his lawyer," reads a statement released on Thursday by MAE.
Since the moment the Romanian citizen submitted the transfer request to execute the rest of the sentence in a Romanian penitentiary, the consular office and the diplomatic mission have permanently collaborated with the Romanian and Chinese authorities. They offered all the support, within the limits of their legal powers, by mediating the contact between the Ministries of Justice of the two states.
"In this context, we can say that the diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad can provide specialized consular assistance to citizens only within the limits of their legal powers and with strict respect for the law of the state of residence. Thus, we emphasize that diplomatic missions cannot intervene in a judicial, administrative procedure or of other nature, managed by the authorities of a third country," MAE informs.
According to the cited source, the Romanian Embassy in Beijing and the Consulate General of Romania continue to monitor the case and maintain contact with all the authorities involved, with the representatives of the penitentiary, with the Romanian citizen and his family members and provide consular assistance.
A 38-year-old professor and entrepreneur from Cluj, Marius Balo, has been in a Chinese prison for more than five years, and his family and defenders claim that he is being subjected to degrading treatment, while the Romanian authorities ignore his drama.
Marius Balo, professor at Renmin University Beijing and foreign expert at XinDongFang (New Oriental) Technology and Education Beijing, settled in China in 2010 and was arrested on March 28, 2014, for alleged contractual fraud, being accused of having received 80 dollars from Chinese citizens, without knowing that the sum came from committing crimes, his lawyers say.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison on March 24, 2016, according to his lawyers, based on the testimony of a person he had never seen and later incarcerated in the Shanghai High Security Penitentiary.
According to his lawyers, in the same situation was also a British citizen but he was released following the intervention of the British Embassy.
In this case, Marius Balo and his lawyers have addressed to the Ministry of Justice and President Klaus Iohannis, but without reply, his defenders argue.
Balo's lawyers and family again ask the Romanian authorities to provide his family with current information on Marius Balo's phase of the request for transfer to Romania and to speed up this procedure, considering that it is the duty of the Romanian state to defend the human rights of each of its citizens and to assist them in relations with third countries.
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