[ad_1]
Stelian Ion, the new justice minister, spoke on Digi24 about the abolition of the SIIJ, the retirement age for magistrates and other priorities in his tenure, including a new anti-corruption and damage recovery strategy that is “a top priority.”
Retirement age of magistrates
“The subject has been much discussed, it is not something new and, in any case, it will not be an untimely decision. I want the magistrates to stay in the judiciary, that they want to stay, and that will be my main concern.
When you have conditions, both logistical and material, there is no reason to have this desire to go out at an age when you are perhaps the most efficient, you have the most experience.
In previous years we have seen that some of the bravest magistrates, some of the most honest magistrates, have had a treatment that is not exactly correct, and I think that is one of the main reasons for withdrawing.
I have a request for magistrates: to stay in the profession, not to forget why they wanted to become magistrates.
The idea of retaining people by force, through a simple legislative change, is not effective and will not have the expected result. We can change the law, we can do it quickly, in the sense of raising the retirement age, but if people stay strong and do not make their profession with love and that desire for justice, we will not give in. We must provide them with material conditions, they must no longer stay 10 in one office and there must be no political pressure, ”said Stelian Ion of Digi24.
Dissolution of the Criminal Investigation Section in Justice (SIIJ)
“The abolition of the SIIJ is certainly not a decision aimed at creating a kind of impunity for magistrates. On the contrary, those who make mistakes must respond to the law. But the SIIJ has not been efficient and has done nothing about it, since 2018 until now.
The idea is not to have a pressure mechanism on honest magistrates, who do their job and who have not done anything wrong.
It will be a very fast matter related to this abolition of the SIIJ.
I sent the invoice to the SCM, which did not meet this year, it will do so in the next period. I will ask management to put this project on the agenda as well.
The project is known, we only made a small change, in the sense of removing some articles from the initial version of the project, which has just created a series of immunities for magistrates. We do not want excesses anywhere.
We do not want excesses in the area of unjustified protection of magistrates, we do not want excesses of pressure exerted by such methods on magistrates. With dozens of disciplinary cases, criminal complaints …
It is a section that has been negatively perceived in the judiciary. I say this with good reason, and not only in the Judiciary, and international organizations and the MCV, the European Commission, have analyzed it.
They asked me why I didn’t give an emergency ordinance for the abolition of the SIIJ, because there is definitely an emergency. I think the best option is to pass this bill in Parliament, precisely so as not to make this bill vulnerable, and not to be challenged for not respecting the conditions provided by the Constitution.
I think this project will go by pretty quickly. March seems to me like a month in which I am convinced that it is possible to effectively repeal this section. The files will not be lost in vain, the files will be redirected to the offices of the Prosecutor’s Office ”, said the Minister of Justice.
A new anti-corruption strategy
“Anti-corruption strategies have been designed for many years. The last strategy was also valid for 2020. It is effective to think in the long term, so an audit of the existing strategy is being carried out in the Ministry of Justice. An internal audit will be carried out and an external one.
Depending on these verifications, we will also consult with bodies related to the investigation of corruption, with magistrates’ associations and with civil society.
I will have an ongoing dialogue to finalize the new anti-corruption strategy for the next few years. It is very important to set some goals. The DNA should target big corruption, not wasting time with small files.
Damage recovery is a top priority, “Stelian Ion stressed.
Publisher: Liviu Cojan
