Former judge Cristi Danileț’s victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case against Romanian Justice demonstrates how serious the crisis was long before the societal anger erupted following the publication of the Recorder documentary.
At the beginning of 2019, Cristi Danileț, then an active judge, made two Facebook posts. One praising prosecutor Claudiu Sandu, the current vice-president of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) and head of the prosecutors’ section within the council, who gave an interview at that time to journalist Ioana Ene Dogioiu, (now the spokesperson for the Romanian Government) and another criticizing Liviu Dragnea and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) for their attacks on intelligence agencies and law enforcement institutions in Romania.
At that time, the entire state infrastructure was under pressure from Dragnea and his associates, who imposed changes to the justice laws and waged an open war against all institutions that played a role in combating corruption.
"Perhaps someone still notices the succession of attacks, disruptions, and discrediting aimed at the following institutions: DGIPI, SRI, SPP, Police, DNA, Gendarmerie, PICCJ, High Court of Cassation and Justice, Army. They do not seem coincidental after the loud declaration of abuses by the force institutions. We all know what it would mean to lose efficiency or, worse, to have political control over these institutions: services, police, justice, army?" wrote Judge Danileț at the time, in a Facebook post.
A Key Moment for Justice
Just like today, two TV stations were conducting a fierce campaign against anti-Dragnea and anti-PSD protesters, who supported the cause of magistrates, politically attacked when investigating and ruling on corruption cases.
Not coincidentally, Judge Lia Savonea was then the President of the CSM, the one who carried out the entire operation of investigating and punishing Judge Cristi Danileț.
... the attitude of abandoning honest magistrates reached its peak when the Superior Council of Magistracy, through its elected member Claudiu Marian Drăgușin, supported, in front of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, the limitation of magistrates' freedom of expression and thus the suppression of any critical voices within the system.
Forum of Judges in Romania
The ECHR decision confirms the abuses committed by Liviu Dragnea, PSD, and Lia Savonea during the protests from 2017-2019, with major effects on the context in which the crisis in Justice has erupted once again.
Lia Savonea, now the President of the Supreme Court, plays the same important role, managing to control the entire legal decision-making system in Romania and making an informal pact with Iohannis, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and PSD to acquit those involved in corruption cases, offering protection to politicians and their associates.
"The Grand Chamber decision represents a key moment in the ECHR jurisprudence regarding Article 10 and the status of magistrates, having the potential to strengthen or redefine European standards regarding judges' and prosecutors' freedom of expression in democratic societies. The case concerns a judge's freedom of expression and how the state can or cannot sanction magistrates for opinions expressed in the public sphere," stated lawyer Nicoleta Popescu, who represented Judge Cristi Danileț before the European court.
Judges Can Publicly Express Themselves When Democracy Is Threatened
After almost 7 years from the moment a judge publicly revolted against an unprecedented political regime attack on the legal system, the ECHR releases Romanian magistrates from the restrictive and abusive interpretation of the "duty of reserve" used by Lia Savonea and the CSM to silence judges and isolate them from society.
"... the violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights took place. The case refers to a judge's freedom of expression, sanctioned by the Superior Council of Magistracy for posting two messages on his publicly accessible Facebook account. The Court reminds that judges have the right, when democracy or the rule of law are seriously threatened, to publicly express themselves on matters of public interest...," as stated in the press release by the ECHR.
The above decision has a surprising effect, saving all magistrates who had the courage to speak out publicly and talk about the abuses of court presidents and how the Bucharest Court of Appeal turned into a corruption laundering machine.
Lia Savonea, a Red Thread of Political Control over Justice
"Here, that prosecutor with guts: openly talks about dangerous criminals at large, about bad ideas of the governors in amending Justice laws, about lynchings against magistrates!," wrote Cristi Danileț at the beginning of January 2019 on his Facebook page.
He praised Claudiu Sandu, then a prosecutor in Brașov, who had the courage to speak about the ways in which Liviu Dragnea was trying to undermine the independence of Justice, in association with Lia Savonea and other magistrates around the PSD.
PSD and Lia Savonea are the red thread running through all aspects of political influence and control over Justice.
At the end of 2021, when Klaus Iohannis imposes on citizens a coalition against the vote from the 2020 parliamentary elections, an alliance between PSD and PNL, the liberals side with the social democrats and impose the new justice laws adopted in 2022, which, under the perverse promotion of guaranteeing the independence of Justice, create a politically controlled system through the CSM, Judicial Inspection, and DNA. Prosecutors did not investigate major corruption cases, inspectors targeted magistrates who opposed court presidents, and the CSM expelled them from the profession.
Within three years, through this scheme, the Bucharest Court of Appeal acquitted and closed on a conveyor belt the majority of major corruption cases in Romania, while Iohannis, Ciucă, and Ciolacu kept repeating left and right that the Justice in Romania was completely independent.
How Voting Works at the Court of Queen Arsenie
"I will tell you how the election of the two members who should represent the judges' interests in the leadership board of the Bucharest Court of Appeal unfolded," said Judge Raluca Moroșanu in an interview with Recorder.
The vote "took place a month or two ago. Everyone knew that two colleagues had been nominated, requested by the leadership to participate in these elections, so two for two positions, and what outraged me was that there was only one box on the ballot. You didn't have the possibility to vote against the two nominations... The President of the Court of Appeal, Liana Arsenie, gave us instructions and clearly told us to mark an X in the single box on the ballot; if we mark outside, the vote is canceled," recounted Judge Raluca Moroșanu about how the elections for the leadership board at the largest court of appeal in Romania were organized.
As of the writing of these lines, the Recorder documentary and the interview with Judge Raluca Moroșanu have been viewed on YouTube 5.8 million times. Nicușor Dan, the current President of Romania, won the second round of the presidential elections last May with 6.1 million votes. It can be said that the current crisis in Justice is now the main concern of those who supported the new head of state.