The Student League of Iași announces that it has filed a complaint with the General Prosecutor’s Office against former Romanian Minister of Culture Raluca Turcan and former director of the National Museum of Romanian History, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, for abuse of office.
Student representatives cite the lack of a government decision for the temporary export of the Dacian heritage pieces taken to the exhibition at the Drents Museum, from where they were stolen.
According to a press release, the student organization requests a public statement from the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) on whether it is involved in protecting the heritage or not, and if any measures were taken prior to the theft regarding the exhibition, as well as the urgent publication of the contract between the NMIR and the Drents Museum, condemning the lack of transparency regarding it.
The Student League accuses Raluca Turcan of lying and not knowing that museums are public institutions, considering that, regardless of the applicable norm, from the information available in the public domain, the organization of the exhibition was illegal.
"Raluca Turcan incriminated herself through the statements she made in the last five days and avoided specifying the exact date of authorization for the exhibition in the Netherlands, an essential detail in determining the applicable law at that time and, therefore, the criminal responsibility for these acts," the statement reads.
Raluca Turcan attempts to exonerate herself, claiming that based on Emergency Ordinance 27/2023, a government decision would not have been necessary, as the country's museums with different subordinations and legal personalities, which were co-participants, would not be public institutions, although the legislation considers all of them as public cultural institutions, and according to the current regulations, there were already at least two institutions involved: the Ministry and the National Museum of History.
The students add that before Raluca Turcan took over the Ministry of Culture, under Law no. 182/2000 on the protection of the national movable cultural heritage, exhibitions with mobile heritage assets abroad were not legally allowed.
Subsequently, through Emergency Ordinance 27/03.08.2023, Turcan amended the heritage law by adding art. 34^1, stating that "for organizing exhibitions abroad or carrying out international cultural projects by public museum institutions under the Ministry of Culture, the measures for their organization are approved by a government decision when multiple authorities and public institutions are involved."
The purpose of the amendment, according to the explanatory note, was to allow "the organization of exhibitions abroad or the realization of international cultural projects by museum institutions under the Ministry of Culture."
The amendment was made a week before the approval of the organization of the exhibition "Dacia. The Last Frontier of Romanity" in Rome, adds the Student League.
According to the press release, the heritage law was amended again at the beginning of last year, through Emergency Ordinance 22/31.01.2024, abandoning the condition of requiring the approval of the National Commission of Museums and Collections and the Ministry of Culture, but strictly for exhibitions in the country:
"For organizing exhibitions or carrying out cultural projects, public institutions may lend, as appropriate, cultural movable assets classified that they administer to public institutions or private legal entities in the country, under common law conditions."
"What was never clarified by Law no. 182/2000 was whether institutions that lend certain heritage pieces can sub-lend them in turn, as there is absolutely no special restriction in this regard, and they can be lent according to common law," the statement further reads.