Lia Savonea Protests: ICCJ Chief Controversy

A protest organized by “Corruption Kills” and “Resistance” is announced on Friday, from 18:30, in front of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ÎCCJ), against Lia Savonea, due to the controversial decisions of the head of the Supreme Court. Recently, society has witnessed a wave of release of major criminals, in full scandal of the Justice caused by the announcement of the Bolojan Government to reduce the pensions of the magistrates. In reply, the High Court requested, on Thursday, even more money for the magistrates, through an agreement assumed by Lia Savonea and not by the General Assembly of the ÎCCJ.

Watch the latest G4Media video productions

– article continues below –

UPDATE 19:20 The demonstrators shout: “Get out, ordinary scum” and “Resign!”.

UPDATE 19:10 One of the activists, Angi Şerban, enumerates on the microphone some of the most controversial sentences given by Lia Savonea, from the minor who “gave her consent” to have sexual relations with a 41-year-old man, sentenced to 8 months suspended by Savonea and to the house arrest of some thugs or, most recently, to the acceptance of extraordinary ways of challenging the sentences and the release of some criminals definitively sentenced to execution, the organizers say.

UPDATE 18:58 Approximately 300-400 people are protesting in front of the ÎCCJ at this moment: “Heroes did not die for you”, “Pity, pity for the spilled blood” are other chants in front of the Supreme Court.

UPDATE 18:52 Protesters also recall the Nordis case.

UPDATE 18:50 Approximately 200 people are now protesting in front of the Supreme Court: “Lie, lie, lark, how do you get out of prison”, is one of the messages of the demonstrators.

UPDATE 18:48 The protesters recall the controversial sentence of Lia Savonea, who issued an 8-month suspended prison sentence for sexual intercourse with a minor, justifying that the girl gave her consent. Details, here.

UPDATE 18:40 Demonstrators chant: “Out, out, you’re too special!” and “Resign, Lia Savonea!”.

UPDATE 18:35 A pro-Călin Georgescu counter-demonstration takes place at the same time as the protest against Lia Savonea. The followers of the former pro-Russian candidate with a legionary speech in the presidential elections of November 24 shout: “Georgescu president!”.

UPDATE 18:30 The protesters brought several models depicting Lia Savonea, accompanied by the message “I provide protection against corruption”.

UPDATE 18:20 Several followers of the former pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu who came to hijack the demonstration also gathered at the scene, according to the reports of G4Media reporters at the scene.

UPDATE 18:15 Approximately 50 people gathered in front of the ÎCCJ for the protest announced for 18:30.

UPDATE 10:00 The protesters left in front of the Supreme Court. The demonstration is scheduled for 18:30.

UPDATE 09:30 At the protest called “What is Lia doing with the Romanian Justice?” the first protesters gathered since the morning, around 09:00.

The protest is “a peaceful but firm reaction to the serious drift of the judicial system, symbolized by the appointment and actions of the current president of the ÎCCJ, Lia Savonea, and to the institutional self-defense attitude of the SCM and the High Court, which confuses the independence of the judiciary with the impunity of those at the top”, say the organizers who demand the recall of Lia Savonea and “a moral reset” of the Supreme Court. At the same time, a Declic petition signed by almost 50,000 people demands the revocation the head of the CSM, Elena Costache, and among the arguments invoked are “the intimidation actions of the CSM from the last period”, after the Council made a criminal complaint

Head of the CSM: “Magistrates are unique”

G4Media showed on November 12 how, in the so-called “Agreement for Justice and Institutional Stability”, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, led by Lia Savoneademands, in the midst of the Justice scandal related to the reduction of magistrates’ pensions, two other additional privileges, among which, the most scandalous, more money:

• The official and public recognition of the fact that, currently, active magistrates take on a disproportionate workload, determined by the high number of vacant and unfilled positions at the level of courts and prosecutors’ offices, as well as the fact that this reality affects the pace and quality of the judicial act and leads to significant professional attrition.
• Granting a compensatory quota from the salary savings generated by not filling vacant positionstransparently directed to the magistrates who effectively ensure the functioning of the courts and prosecutor’s offices.
• G4Media exclusively revealed that the agreement for Justice proposed by the High Court was assumed by Lia Savonea, not by the General Assembly of supreme judges. In reply, Savonea said that “it is the attribute of the president of the court”, but it is contradicted by ÎCCJ judges who claim that the General Assembly should have been convened, “not to take on a natural person”. Details, here.

The Special Council of the Magistracy (CSM) announced on Thursday in a statement that it agrees with the appeal launched on Wednesday by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which demanded the payment to magistrates of “compensatory shares” from the money not spent in the judicial system. The CSM announced, through a statement sent on Monday evening, that it filed a criminal complaint against Oana Gheorghiu: an accusation of incitement to hatred, violence and discrimination, after she spoke about the reduction of magistrates’ pensions.

• At the beginning of August, the head of the CSM stated in an interview that a pension of 14,000 lei is small for a magistrate and that magistrates are “special”. Details, here.

Prime Minister Bolojan: He would have pensions of 3,200 euros

Prime Ilia Bolojandeclared, on Thursday evening, at Euronews, that the meeting with the magistrates and coalition leaders, hosted on Wednesday by President Nicușor Dan, did not even “come close to an option that would lead to a common denominator. Bolojan also said that after the cuts, the magistrates’ pensions would reach 3,200 euros, money that “very few Romanians receive after a lifetime of work”:

• “3,200 euros, please forgive me, net per month, we can discuss whether it is a suitable pension for the vision of a magistrate. Consider that it is a pension that very few Romanians collect after a working life of 40 years, 35 years and so on. At what it is today in Romania, it is a pension in which you have a decent old age anyway. Not to say more than that,” he said Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.

Asked what was the solution proposed by the magistrates at the discussions at the Cotroceni Palace, Ilie Bolojan specified that it was agreed not to make statements “that would lead to an area where things could be intensified”.

• “I, apart from describing the systemic things as correctly as possible, do not want to enter an escalation zone. One thing, however, related to the value of pensions is as certain as possible. Please consider that an average pension with which one goes out to the judiciary today is almost 5,000 euros. Consider that an average pension in Romania is 550-600 euros today. That is, there is a very big difference between the average pension and the pension from the judiciary. And then these things, when we like them, when we don’t like them, I told you that it is a problem to have a fair system, but also to have a system that can stand in the years to come”, explained Prime Minister Bolojan.

The context of the scandal in Justice. Criminal complaint of the CSM on behalf of the deputy prime minister: “A democratic exercise”

Organizers’ announcement

The organizations “Corruption Kills” and “Resistance” are organizing a protest rally against the head of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Lia Savonea, on Friday, November 14. The protest takes place from 6:30 p.m., in front of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, under the title “What is Lia doing with the Romanian Justice?”. The organizers explained in a press release the reasons why they will take to the streets to demand the revocation of Lia Savonea from office,

“The protest is a peaceful but firm reaction to the serious drift of the judicial system, symbolized by the appointment and actions of the current president of the ÎCCJ, Lia Savonea, and to the institutional self-defense attitude of the SCM and the High Court, which confuses the independence of the judiciary with the impunity of those at the top.

The organizers – Corruption Kills, Initiative Romania, Resistance, Initiative Timișoara and Declic – were numerous times in the front line of street demonstrations that supported the independence of justice and the effectiveness of the anti-corruption fight in the period 2017-2019 and carried out many other activities and projects in support of the rule of law and the rule of law in Romania. The same principles animate us today when we demand the REVOCATION of a nefarious character who destroys the credibility of justice in the eyes of Romanian society.

Why we are protesting In recent years, the justice system in Romania has been marked by:

• controversial judicial decisions, by which persons accused or convicted of corruption were acquitted or released by statute of limitations;
• institutional blockages and harassment of critical magistrates or representatives of civil society;
• an aggressive campaign of intimidation, culminating in the criminal complaint filed by the CSM against a member of the Government for a simple political opinion that was qualified as “incitement to hatred” (an action against which more than 23,000 citizens, personalities and civic organizations have already taken a position, signing the manifesto “Magistrates are not a disadvantaged and vulnerable social category”)

These actions show a judicial system captured from within that reacts against any form of criticism and that protects its privileges with a false discourse of “judicial independence”.

We demand the REVOCATION of Lia Savonea from the position of president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, for:

• Repeated decisions that undermined public confidence in the judiciary and favored high-profile defendants;
• Active involvement in the transformation of the SCM and the ÎCCJ into protection tools for the system, not guaranteeing the independence of the judicial act;
• Pressures on magistrates and blocking of independent voices; Our protest is not a threat – as the recent positions of the ÎCCJ would suggest – but a strong and critical voice to the way the legal system is suffocated from the top.

During the protest, we will read our own “indictment” against Lia Savonea, as well as a list of questions that we address to the heads of justice and other important political and social actors. After the announcement of our protest, the High Court of Cassation and Justice issued a statement to TVR News on November 8 in which it claims that the “public attacks” against Lia Savonea would constitute a threat to the independence of the judiciary. On November 12, the ÎCCJ launched the document entitled “Agreement for Justice and Institutional Stability”, a text which, under the guise of a “pact for the rule of law”, seeks to silence civil society and any other social and institutional actors and legitimize the privileges of magistrates. Through this “agreement”, the ÎCCJ calls for “an end to political attacks” on the judiciary and a “code of conduct” that limits the freedom of expression of public representatives and the media — in reality, an attempt to silence legitimate criticism of controversial decisions taken by a small group at the top of the system.

Justice is nobody’s property The independence of justice is guaranteed by the Constitution, but it does not mean the absence of responsibility. When decisions depart from the spirit of the law, when some magistrates defend their privileges instead of defending justice, society has not only the right but also the duty to react. A strong judiciary in a European country does not defend itself with silence, but with transparency, responsibility and dialogue. Our message Justice is not a closed club, and independence is not a cover for abuse.

We demand the REPEAL of Lia Savonea and a moral reset of the High Court. Romania needs a justice worthy of a European country, not an institution that defends its own power”.