Romania criticised for adopting amendments to rule of law

Romania President, Klaus Iohannis

Twelve countries on Thursday criticised the Romanian authorities for adopting amendments to the country’s Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, the U.S. Embassy in Romania said on Thursday in a statement.

The countries, however, called on Bucharest to consider the potentially negative consequences of the move.

The draft law on amending the Criminal Code was adopted by the country’s parliament on June 18, but the opposition parties said they wanted to contest it in the Constitutional Court.

The amendments banned prosecutors from disclosing information during an investigation and forced them to destroy evidence obtained by illegal means.

Moreover, the Appeal Chamber will not be able to reverse acquittals without new evidence.

“On behalf of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S. please receive the statement below:

“We, Romania’s international partners and allies, call on all parties, involved in amending Romania’s criminal and criminal procedure codes, to avoid changes that would weaken the rule of law.

“Also to avoid changes that would weaken Romania’s ability to fight crime or corruption,’’ the statement said.

The U.S. Embassy pointed out that Romania had shown considerable progress in combating corruption and creating the rule of law.

“We encourage Romanians to continue on this path.

“We are following closely the changes to the criminal codes and remain concerned that several are likely to impede international law enforcement cooperation.

“We also are following closely the changes so as not negatively impact the fight against violent crime, transnational organised crime, financial crimes and drug and human trafficking.’’

The embassy encouraged all the parties involved to reconsider the data provided by domestic legal experts and seek support from international experts, such those from the Group of States Against Corruption and Venice Commission.