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President Iohannis notifed CCR about Dan Sova's case
President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday sent to the President of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), Augustin Zegrean, a request to solve the legal conflict of a constitutional nature existing between the Public Ministry - the Prosecutors' Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Supreme Council of Magistrates and the Parliament, after the Chamber of Deputies' and the Senate's failures to reconcile with the Constitution the legal stipulations related to the majority needed in adopting decisions regarding to the approval of requests on the remanding in custody or preventive arrest of a MP.
"I urge you to observe the existence of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the between the Public Ministry - the Prosecutors' Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Supreme Council of Magistrates and the Romanian Parliament, the Deputies' Chamber and the Senate respectively, which appeared following the Parliament's failure to reconcile with the Constitution the legal stipulations in relation to the majority needed in adopting decisions regarding to the approval of such requests on the remanding in custody or preventive arrest of a MP, blocking thus the activity of the judicial power," said Iohannis in his request to the President of the CCR.
President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday said that, in the context in which the Senate has rejected earlier the same day the request regarding the taking into custody and the placement under preventive arrest of Social Democratic senator Dan Sova, the Parliament will only be able to regain the citizens' trust when it responds "promptly and correctly" to requests from the judiciary.
"In a rule of law state, no one is above the law. The capacity of a deputy, senator or minister shouldn't confer immunity before justice. Parliament shouldn't play court. The judiciary is the only one with a right to decide on such matters while considering, of course, the benefit of the doubt first. Only if the Parliament will stick to firm principles in terms of integrity and it will prove able to respond in a prompt and correct manner to the justice requests, can pretend to win back the trust of the citizens", said Iohannis, on Wednesday, in Facebook post.
He also said that, in his capacity as guarantor of the observance of the Constitution and principles of the rule of law state, he cannot overlook "the fact that today the Parliament blocked a request coming from the judiciary, again."
Senators on Wednesday rejected, in a 79-to-67 secret vote, with 5 votes cancelled, the anti-corruption prosecutors' request regarding the taking into custody and placement under preventive arrest of the Social Democratic senator Dan Sova, under three counts of abetting abuse in office in the case related to the Turceni and Rovinari energy complexes.
Since the Senators failed to gather a majority, the Senate rejected the request.