Prosecutor General's Office, criminally notified for Diana Şoşoacă's statements in the European Parliament

The Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism and the Memory of Romanian Exile (IICCMER) notified, yesterday, the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (Prosecutor General) against MEP Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă, whom it accuses of committing the crime of "promoting, in public, the cult of persons guilty of committing crimes of genocide against humanity and war crimes", according to Article 5 of Emergency Ordinance no. 31/2002.

The denunciation follows a speech given by Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă in the plenary session of the European Parliament on February 11, 2025, in which the MEP claimed that "no one has ever equaled" Nicolae Ceauşescu, stating that he "had the best foreign policy" and managed to bring peace to the Middle East. These statements were classified by IICCMER as an attempt to rehabilitate the image of the dictator, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

According to OUG 31/2002, promoting the cult of persons guilty of crimes against humanity is punishable by imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years and the prohibition of certain rights. In this context, IICCMER considered it necessary to notify the criminal prosecution bodies so that they can take the appropriate legal measures.

Daniel Şandru, the executive president of IICCMER, stressed the seriousness of the MEP's statements, considering them an "offense to the memory of the victims of the communist regime" and an attempt to beautify the Ceauşescu dictatorship. He warned that such dangerous messages must be sanctioned in order to protect democratic values and historical truth.

It remains to be seen whether this notification will end with an indictment against Diana Şoşoacă by the Prosecutor General's Office. We recall that last year, on November 26, 2024, after the first round of the presidential elections, Alex Florenţa, the Prosecutor General of Romania, stated that many of the notifications made regarding Călin Georgescu and Diana Şoşoacă ended with the failure to initiate criminal prosecution, because the first sentence of article 5, in conjunction with article 2 letter c) of the Emergency Ordinance no. 31/2002 establishes that the aforementioned crime is premised on the existence of a conviction decision by which the guilt of the persons whose cult is currently being promoted was previously established.

A press release issued by the General Prosecutor's Office on November 26 stated: "Now, these conditions provided for by the incrimination norm significantly limit the scope of persons whose apology in public discourse may meet the constitutive elements of a crime, most often simple general references to historical figures who did not suffer such criminal convictions not meeting the conditions provided for by the incriminating text".

In the case of the notification drawn up yesterday by IICCMER, the above problem notified by the Prosecutor General does not exist, as long as on December 25, 1989 Nicolae Ceauşescu was sentenced to death and executed for several crimes, including that of genocide.

The only problem that would arise in the case of the decision to send Diana Şoşoacă to court would be the immunity she enjoys as a member of the European Parliament, but this impediment can also be resolved by a simple request to lift this immunity addressed to the respective European institution.