English
Dan Voiculescu, a.k.a. "Doctor Felix"- got mad at daily "Evenimentul zilei" for publishing the testimonials of Stelian Negrea about the clauses included in the service contracts of the journalist working for the Intact media group (owned by the two daughters of Voiculescu). Their contracts stipulate that employees would be required to pay damages of 100,000 Euros in case they wrote anything that might discredit the current or future management of the group.
Doctor Felix felt he just had to issue a press release from his senatorial office of Bucharest, in which he threatens "Evenimentul zilei" that he is going to sue and ask for damages of 1 million Euros.
Let"s forget for a moment that the Press release misspelled the name of the paper ("EveRnimentul Zilei"); I can"t help but wonder why is Felix threatening to sue the newspaper, instead of Stelian Negrea?!
"I am considering the possibility of going to court and asking for 1 million Euros in damages from Evernimentul Zilei, an amount which I will donate to the Foundation for the Defense of Citizens against State Abuse", the press release says.
What exactly is there to consider here?
Does he feel like he"s been defamed?
Just sue already!, what is he still reviewing?!
Is his head really working?
If it were, he would have realized that he couldn"t have timed his press release any worse, even if he tried (issued as a senator, no less): just one day after the World Press Freedom day, a thing which really discredits him as a politician.
Let him sue us!
The press release is issued on the second day after the draft for the Law of the Press has been submitted, which only comprises five articles, of which the first states:
"Art. 1 - (1) In Romania, the press is free. Any form of censorship is forbidden.
(2) Any type of obstruction, including by lawsuit, intended to prevent the publication of journalistic content, in part or in full, in one issue or in several, represents censorship."
Maybe he should consider that!...
Is he smart enough to do it?
Doctor Felix writes:
"I am not aware of the terms of the contract he had with the Intact group, but my name is clearly not mentioned in it. Using my name in that article is a blatant manipulation."
How can he not know?
It is displayed in a facsimile, in the very paper he intends to sue.
Meaning he does know.
The contract clearly states:
"
The Service provider, or the key person, respectively, pledges not to discredit the current or future management of the Beneficiary, the Beneficiary itself or any of its Affiliates, whether individually or as a group, or any other company that is part of the "Intact Trust" or the people of the current or future management of these companies".
If he had any brains, he would realize how absurd the phrase "current or future management members" is.
But let"s spare him the effort!
The "future management" of the group could include just about anybody, including Traian Băsescu.
He should just fine his own company, ad nauseam - anytime one of his employees says anything bad about the president, have them slapped with a fine of 100,000, and so on, until it goes bankrupt.
I have a feeling that Intact and its lawyers haven"t thought of that.
So has he got the brains?
"The law of the press should also first and foremost consider the fact that mass-media in Romania is only partially free, according to Freedom House, rather than pander to the fears of PDL politicians who are struggling to silence the critics of a government spiraling out of control". (Another excerpt of yesterday"s press release issued by the conservative party, yes, also yesterday)
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• NOTE
According to the National Council for the Studying of the Archives of the Former Political Police (CNSAS), Voiculescu was recruited by the "Securitate" in February 1970, under the code name "Mircea". Three years later, Dan Voiculescu was recruited as part of the "3rd Directive" network, under the code name "Felix".
The Supreme Court has issued a definitive ruling on March 10, 2011, which states that Dan Voiculescu, founder of the Conservative Party and vice-president of the Senate, has cooperated with the political police, using the code names "Felix" and "Mircea".
According to his blog, Dan Voiculescu has a Ph D in economics.
Thus we get the nickname "doctor Felix", which could make one notice that the street of Bucharest which has that name bears his name.
Except, that street bears the name of Iacob Dimitrie Felix (born on January 6th 1832, in Horschitz (Horice v Podkrkono¹í), in Bohemia (nowadays in the Czech Republic) - deceased on January 19th, 1905 in Bucharest), who was a Romanian doctor of Austrian origin, full fledged member (starting with June 30th, 1879) and vice-president of the Romanian Academy (1885-1886).
In other words, it is an honorable name.
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