Romania’s ruling party MPs propose controversial amendments to the judiciary

Dozens of MPs that belong to the left wing Social Democratic party (PSD) have backed a controversial draft bill that amends the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedural Code.

The draft bill, signed by 39 MPs, imposes a threshold of EUR 200,000 for the abuse in office offense. Starting from this value, the abuse in office can be prosecuted as a criminal act. A similar move was attempted in February, when the former government led by Sorin Grindeanu approved an emergency ordinance that partially decriminalized the abuse in office. Following massive street protests, the ordinance was cancelled.

Meanwhile, in the new draft bill MPs propose house arrest for jail sentences below 3 years. Moreover, detainees over 60 years old and those with chronic or terminal disease should be arrested at home, instead of being locked in a jail cell.

The MPs also proposed a reduction of the maximum jail sentence for bribery from 7 years to 5 years. The PSD members also want to eliminate the legal formula “reasonable suspicion”.

The draft bill also includes changes impacting investigators. MPs want “the deeds of prosecution carried out by prosecution institutions or prosecutors at their HQ to be recorded through audio-video means”.

In addition, the PSD MPs want the denunciation to be made in six months since the informer found out about the illegal activity, except offenses against persons or those against national security. If this deadline is not met, the informer might be prosecuted and the denunciation becomes useless in court.

The raft of changes has been submitted to the Senate for debates.