In a press conference today, the General Prosecutor of Romania, Ilie Botos stated that the prosecutors followed all legal procedures pertaining to Dinu Patriciu’s case and that the General Prosecutor personally verified the matter. The Rompetrol shareholders decided to request the resignation of the General Prosecutor of Romania and of the head of the DIICOT Directorate for not knowing the proceedures on which they grounded the arrest proposal of Dinu Patriciu, president of the Rompetrol Group.
The general prosecutor and the prosecutors on the case refered to an old version of the law that is no longer in use (it was abrogated) on which they grounded their actions, thus erroneously informing the public opinion as well as the judges responsible with the conduct of the proceedings. The Rompetrol shareholders consider that the “simple” fraudulent quotation of a text of law presumed to be in use has a significant impact for the Rompetrol Group and for Dinu Patriciu personally.
Incompetence or malevolence?
In the contents of preventive arrest warrant, the prosecutors try to cover up the violation of the procedures and, implicitly, of the right to defense. It is mentioned that “after the defendant had been informed about the ordinance that initiated the pennal action, his hearing by the prosecutor is an option and not an obligation.” For an accurate information of the public opinion we would like to point out that: The hearing of the defendant by the prosecutor is not optional but it is compulsory, the current text of law having a different content than the one invoked an dused by the General Prosecutor’s Office (PICCSJ).
Below is the current text of the law obliging the prosecutor to observe the proceedures in the sense of giving the defendant the right to a fair hearing. The current legislation had been enacted by UGO no. 109/2003: “The measure of arresting the defendant can only be taken after fair hearings with the prosecutors and in front of a judge, with the exception of the case when the defendant had disappeared, is abroad or is avoiding the investigation or the trial”. The hearing with the prosecutor did not occur.