JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES TO POLITICIANS: "Justice is not something to be bartered between politicians"

The member organizations of the Initiative for a Clean Justice System (IJC) - The National Union of Romanian Judges and the Cluj branch of the Association of Romanian Magistrates - the Cluj branch - have asked the parties involved in the creation of the future Government to not negotiate on and endanger the independence of the Romanian legal system.

"The effectiveness, even the very existence of the structures of the judicial and anticorruption system should not be the object of a political barter, but rather a goal of the justice related policies", states a press release of the two organizations, sent to our editor"s office.

The IJC representatives clarified: "Romania"s obligations taken on through the EU accession treaty which was signed in 2005 were equally taken on by all the political parties and they include the prioritization of the fight against corruption at the highest levels of society, and supporting the magistrates that fulfill these commitments and the independence of the legal system. There are no constitutional or legal grounds for making this the object of political negotiations".

Thus, the IJC has requested that the political parties involved in negotiations explicitly deny the recent rumors concerning the justice subjects which can become the object of political deals, in order to not automatically discredit the government which is being created these days.

"Keeping the independence of justice and continuing the fight against corruption are commitments of the Romanian State to the European institutions and first and foremost, they represent the base rule of law and a guarantee of a clean society, where corrupt persons and groups don"t have access to the economic and political decision mechanisms", the communiqué also states.