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The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) on Friday released on its website the protocol of cooperation with the Prosecution Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the institutions' fulfilling their tasks regarding national security.
The protocol linking the two agencies was concluded on the basis of the Constitution, of the Criminal Procedure Code, laws, emergency ordinances and government resolutions, as well as decisions of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT), the freshly declassified document shows.
The protocol provides for the establishment of joint operational teams taking action according to action plans for the parties to exercise their specific competencies, with a view to documenting the facts set forth at Article 2, stipulating that: "The parties shall cooperate according to their competence and responsibilities provided by law, in their activity of capitalizing on intelligence regarding the prevention and combat of crimes against national security, acts of terrorism, crimes amounting to threats to national security and other serious crimes, according to the law."
The document also states that "the SRI experts shall provide specialist technical assistance to the prosecutors who conduct criminal investigations" and that SRI shall provide specialist technical assistance to the prosecutors in the cases provided for at Article 2, where evidence handling requires specific knowledge or technical equipment, or in the cases where persons whose identity is protected are being wiretapped.
Article 3 lists the goals of the cooperation: "providing intelligence that is relevant and useful for the fulfillment of the specific responsibilities of the parties, as well as ensuring the protection thereof; the speedy carrying out of the steps provided for by the law for SRI's requesting and obtaining the warrant authorizing intelligence gathering activities; ensuring the fulfillment of the responsibilities falling on the Prosecution Office for the enforcement of the authorization documents issued according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code; correlating activities for the identification, collecting, exploitation, preservation and analytical processing of intelligence related to the crimes referred to at Article 2."
Article 3 also refers to:
* The setting up of joint operational teams acting on the basis of action plans whereby the parties each exercise their specific competencies with a view to documenting the facts provided for at Art. 2;
* SRI's providing free of charge assistance for the protection of classified information held and used by the Prosecution Office, to prevent the leak of such data and intelligence, with the collection, transport and countrywide distribution of official correspondence;
* The development and implementation by the parties, in complementary areas, of joint strategies, actions and programs;
* The provision by Service experts, as per law, of expert technical assistance to the prosecutors who conduct criminal investigations, with a view to enforcing the provisions of Art. 91 (1) - 91 (5) and Art. 98 of the Criminal Procedure Code;
* The provision by the Service, under the terms of the law and of the present Protocol, of specialist technical assistance to prosecutors in the cases provided for at Art. 2, where the handling of evidence requires specific knowledge or technical equipment, or in cases where persons with a protected identity are being wiretapped;
* The setting in place of computerised mechanisms to ensure the operative transmission, in special situations, of the data and information necessary for the fulfillment of each party's responsibilities;
* The participation in joint training, specialization and skills upgrading programs.
AGERPRES .
