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We are heading towards a dead end, the VP of the Superior Council of Magistracy, Daniel Horodniceanu, said Tuesday, at the presentation of the stocktaking report on 2022 of the Public Prosecution Service, referring to the increasing number of criminal cases pending at the Prosecutor's Office compared to the decreasing number of prosecutors, drawing attention to the fact that the Romanian state reacts only after "bad things" happen, instead of act on the basis of national strategies and analyzes of risks and threats.
"As a prosecutor and magistrate, one cannot help but wonder if the state, as it is thought, works and acts organized through its institutions. A disciplined, well-organized state acts in concert, adopts logical, integrated measures. Only a weak state sabotages itself, through its own institutions. I did not have the figures of the stocktaking report (of the Public Prosecution Service, ed. n.), but the most important is the one I saw today, namely of the totality of the files in Romania, followed by the evolution of the stocks of files and the old files. We still have over 1.7 million criminal files managed annually by the Public Prosecution Service. According to the last census, 19.6 million inhabitants currently live in Romania. A simple arithmetic calculation brings us to the image that every sixth Romanian is involved in a criminal case. It is most likely not so, because at least 50 pct of criminal cases should not be registered. What we look at implacably is the graph with the continuously growing stock of files. It seems that we are heading towards a dead end, because the prospects are bleak, if we refer to the lack of human resources, the worst in the last 20 years," Horodniceanu, a former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) stressed.
He criticized the way in which the national strategies in the criminal field are drawn up, showing that the Romanian state reacts only after "bad things" happen and drew attention to the fact that, through the latest amendments to the Justice laws, we will have a "super prosecutor general".
"There are new procedures for appointing the chief prosecutors of the prosecutor's offices with political appointments. It was reasoned that the adoption of the new Justice laws was expected. If this is very good, we are going to find out. The law wanted a general prosecutor with much broader powers, both in terms of his/her delegation possibilities in all execution functions, as well as in terms of the possibility of denying the solutions of all prosecutors, which have become unlimited. We will therefore have a super prosecutor general, who will have to understand that such a great power must be accompanied by an equally great responsibility. A prosecutor general who will have to understand that the judicial system must be reformed, that it is time for big projects, that he/she must see the complete picture of the system. To rise above the system deficiencies that have plagued it for so long. I wonder what strategies you are doing when the Prosecutor's Office next to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is currently operating with only 45 pct of the staff," Horodniceanu asked rhetorically.
On the other hand, Horodniceanu believes that the minister of Justice should be held accountable from a political point of view if his choices regarding the heads of the Prosecutor's Office will not yield results.AGERPRES
