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Three associations of prosecutors and judges publicly condemn the punishing or blaming in any way of magistrates who deliver substantiated criticisms of the legal system.
"Judges and prosecutors, especially members of the CSM [Supreme Council of Magistrates], who speak out about the real issues in justice, about the causes that generated them and about possible solutions, must be supported and encouraged to speak, not blamed or punished in any way. Criticisms do not represent excessive language, overstepping the obligation towards reserve, but are necessary reactions because only totalitarian regimes detest and exclude criticism, promoting solely unanimities," reads a document signed by the Association of Magistrates of Romania (AMR), the National Union of Judges of Romania (UNJR) and the Association of Judges for the Defence of Human Rights (AJADO).
According to the three associations, justice in Romania has serious and unresolved problems for many years now, and those that know them best are those within the system. The first step to solving the issues with justice is recognizing and assuming mistakes, not blaming those who show them, the representatives of the three associations say.
AMR, UNJR and AJADO have constantly maintained that any criticism which is solid, based on proven facts or even reasonable doubt, is obligatory and necessary, not only for the health of a social system, but for the very existence of democracy.
"Defending the independence of Justice is the Constitutional role of the Supreme Council of Magistrates. Enforcing it is done through the activity of each CSM member, each of which has the duty of telling the truth completely and publicly about the judicial system, even when this truth is unpleasant, irritating or annoying. It's what judge Gabriela Baltag did, fulfilling her constitutional mission. The conclusion can be drawn all the more so as the statement given had the subject of defending the status of magistrates, by reporting to one of the important components of a magistrate's independence, as it is enshrined and guaranteed by the international documents Romania is part of," the quoted source also mentions.
AMR, UNJR and AJADO reaffirm their determination to support any magistrate, judge or prosecutor, who brings substantiated criticism to the judiciary system, such criticism being necessary to improve the functioning of justice, as a public service, in the interest of each citizen.
