The judicial system and the police, penetrated by criminals

Traian Berbeceanu, the head of the Anti-Organized Crime Squad of Alba Iulia, arrested in October for acts of corruption, made a surprising statement about the infiltration of the criminals in the structures of the state: "Lately, we are feeling, with growing eminency, the presence of Organized Crime in our immediate vicinity, there are no more obstacles, individuals of the lowest quality have penetrated important institutions of the state, they have acquired key positions, and through their actions they are far more dangerous then the well-established criminals that we were so accustomed to ..."

Starting from that notion, BURSA has drawn up a map of criminality in the judicial system and the police, over the last five months.

Prosecutors, judges and policemen have been investigated or even arrested in more than half of Romania's counties.

The white spots on the map do not illustrate the absence of crimes within the judicial system and the police, rather they suggest that it was not reported therein.

Yes, that could mean that there are clean counties, but it could also mean the opposite. That corruption is so entrenched over there, that there is no one left to report it.

Even though this map could bring the innocents to desperation, it is still a map of hope: it's not the whole country, not all the counties that are white.

This means that in the orange counties someone is taking action.

It is unclear whether over there the mobs within the judicial system, the police, politics and the criminal underworld are in the habit of "ratting out" their opponents, waging a criminal war for turfs, or, in a manner that gives us hope, there are still policemen and men of justice who, honoring their positions, are trying to clean up their ranks.

The political struggle between president Traian Băsescu and the Social Democratic Union (USL) - Victor Ponta, Crin Antonescu and Dan Voiculescu, through Daniel Constantin - is becoming increasingly harsh, as the elections of 2014 are getting closer.

The most important weapons - mass-media and justice.

Whereas in the mass-media the war between the two sides is clearly visible (through daily statements on the TV news channels, on websites and in the written media), in the judicial system, everything is far more muddy.

Lately, not a day goes by without hearing that a policeman, a judge or a prosecutor is being investigated for some crime, most of them getting arrested.

Some ascribe to president Traian Băsescu a decisive influence on the Police, the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) and the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM), and to Victor Ponta the influence on the DIICOT, through prosecutor Tiberiu Niţu.

The fight in the legal system is fierce, especially since the appointments are made politically (not at all based on competence criteria).

Over the last five months, numerous prosecutors, judges, inspectors, commissioners or police officers have been investigated, arrested, and some have even been sentenced to many years prison, according to data processed by BURSA.

The most frequent charge brought against the defendants: committing acts of corruption, such as accepting bribes or aiding and abetting criminals.

"Băsescu's prosecutors" or "Ponta's magistrates" are just two examples which are used to suggest to us that the infiltration of the political factor in the judicial system has reached an extent which is quite high for a society which has left the "political police of Ceauşescu" 23 years ago.

So far, when it comes to the numbers of arrests, the two factions are nearly tied, as the numbers of members of the two factions brought to the stand are almost equal.

The Berbeceanu case seems to be, however, only the "icing on the cake", as the conflict between the prosecutors and the policemen is a transfer of the political dispute into the judicial and law enforcement systems.

Meanwhile, the European Union has postponed until 2014 our accession into Schengen, as the issues of our legal system are being invoked as an objection. Our politicians are wondering, as if talking to themselves: "Why are we not allowed to join the Schengen area, why does the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification for the Judicial System have unfavorable results for us every time?".

Because of you, darlings!