Romania’s anti-corruption agency (DNA) reacts after Constitutional Court decides chief prosecutor Kovesi must be dismissed by president

Romania’s anti-corruption agency (DNA) has released its first statement in reaction to the Constitutional Court’s decision on Wednesday which said that president Klaus Iohannis must move forward with the dismissal of DNA’s chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, following the proposal of Justice minister Tudorel Toader.

DNA’s statement reads: “It is time to send an alarm signal and express our concern regarding the potential damage done to prosecutors’ independence, which represents an essential premise of the fight against corruption. Without the existing legal guarantees, the fight would not have been possible, and losing these guarantees could mean that the ongoing investigations conducted by anti-corruption prosecutors could be gravely affected.”

Another negative reaction came from the chief prosecutor of DIICOT, Romania’s anti-organised crime and terrorism agency, Daniel Horodniceanu, who said that CCR’s decision has placed prosecutors “not under the authority, but under the potentially discretionary exercise of the Justice minister, who is a political appointee.” He added that “the constitutional guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, the Superior Council of Magistracy, has been reduced to a sterile role.”

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