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Report of Public Ministry: 543,971 cases, solved, precautionary measures worth 2.2bln lei
In 2018 great pressure was exerted on the judicial institutions, especially on the Prosecutor's Offices, and the steps to amend the laws of justice "snowballed", Romania's Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar told the meeting of the activity review of the Public Ministry in the year 2018.
"In 2018, the attention of the society as a whole was focused on the judiciary. The audience was kept captive in an avalanche of topics, press releases, disclosures, parliamentary initiatives, judicial and extrajudicial decisions, and public approaches that ultimately did nothing but put an anathema on the judiciary institutions (...) It was the year in which high pressure was exerted on judicial institutions, mainly on prosecutor's offices and snowballed with altering the laws of justice, the criminal codes, with an impact on the judiciary, in which the political factor insisted and succeeded in the revocation of the chief prosecutor of DNA [the National Anticorruption Directorate, ed.n.]," Augustin Lazar said.
He recalled in context the concerns of the European partners regarding the independence of the judiciary.
According to the report, in 2018, prosecutors settled 543,971 cases, over 10,000 more than in 2017, with precautionary measures amounting to 2,2 billion lei.
In his presentation of stocktaking report for 2018, Lazar said that not only wasn't the Public Ministry encouraged to work, but it was assaulted by an "unfriendly atmosphere".
Thus, the prosecutors had to solve 1,753,540 cases, out of which 543,971 cases were solved (over 10,000 more than in 2017). As many as 46,441 arraignment solutions (510 more than in 2017) were issued in relation to 58,979 defendants (out of which 242 legal persons).
Domestic violence was a priority sector of activity.
In 2018, 1.360 criminals were charged for this offense, representing 2.3 percent of the total number of those prosecuted.
There were 205 child victims of the parents, of which 151 minors. Of these, there are 29 victims of murder (including attempted murder), of which 12 minors and 32 victims of rape, of which 30 minors.
"It is a society that is increasingly subjected to stress and violence in general, domestic violence in particular, and solutions should be found. The Public Ministry should be helped, not in the manner in which it was assaulted last year," Lazar said.
Augustin Lazar stated that there is an increase in the number of defendants charged with corruption offenses - bribery (from 158 to 2017 to 212 in 2018 - a 34.2 percent increase), influence peddling (from 80 in 2017 to 87 in 2018 - an increase of 8.7 percent) and buying of influence (from 96 in 2017 to 121 in 2018, representing a 26 percent increase).
Similar to 2017, there is an increase in the number of defendants charged for traffic offenses on public roads, ie 8.2 percent, from 20,380 in 2017 to 22,047 in 2018 (of which driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances from 10,436 in 2017 to 11,601 in 2018, which is an increase of 11.2 percent).
The Prosecutor General also announced that, in 2018, precautionary measures worth 2,202,994,411 lei were ruled in the criminal cases.
"The measures aimed at boosting and making the criminal prosecution activity more effective consisted mainly of the following: consolidation of the progress in the fight against corruption in the local public administration, effective investigations in the cases of money laundering and tax evasion, combating forestry offenses, as well as acts of corruption, abuse of service, money laundering in connection with illegal deforestation, the harmonisation of judicial practice, including types of investigations and precautionary measures aimed at repairing the damages (precautionary measures in 2018: 2.2 billion lei represents twice the resources allocated to the Public Ministry in the amount of 1.2 billion lei)," Lazar specified.