The representatives of civil society within the SCM, Victor Alistar and Romeo Chelaru, have stated that the rule of law is achievable only within the limits of constitutional order and society needs a lawful and non-selective fight against corruption. They also request solutions for a series of issues within the judicial system.
„Society expects the judicial system to provide for values such as balance and responsibility. (...)The rule of law is achievable only within the limits of the constitutional order from which emanate all other legislative and law-abiding acts. These days, when we are celebrating “Constitution Day” in Romania – since the Constitution was adopted on 8th December 1991 by the Romanian society via referendum, the judicial system is required to prove it is one of the main contributors to the consolidation of the rule of law in which observance of the Constitution, of its supremacy and of the laws is mandatory, and the rights and freedoms of citizens are defended and protected within the constitutional democracy”, the members of civil society within SCM have stated in a message posted on the website of the institution.
According to the them, through professional behaviour and judicial decision, magistrates are called upon to ensure a just balance that guarantees the citizens the equilibrium of the society we live in, to respect in all civil and non-civil cases the full effective and efficacious right to defence of the parties to the pending cases, to respect the limits of the judicial power and to demonstrate respect for the constitutional principles of autonomy and mutual respect for the other powers of the state, to contribute to the consolidation of their statute by separating themselves from any activities or messages converging with those of the political arena as well as by assuming the correlative obligation of reserve, which guarantees the entire society that justice is impartial.
„The challenges of the judicial system requiring solutions to be found and applied have been related to: breach of the law with respect to judicial procedures resulting in the acquittal of the accused due to the violation of procedural rules; unconstitutional practices regarding the allocation of judicial functions, interference of powerful institutions with the independence of justice; weakening of the confidence in the objectivity of the fight against corruption via media-judicial practices that are not allowed by the standards of an equitable justice system; cover-up of facts known to the public opinion (...), which results in the citizens’ lack of trust in the effectiveness and honesty of the fight against corruption; cases that are not worked on and that subsequently are (re)activated depending on social events, on the nature of economic, political or social decisions; corruption of their own authority levers with a view to obtaining career advantages or impunity for situations wherein the law was breached within the very judicial system; ensuring unitary practice of the application of anticorruption rules with respect to the interpretation of similar acts and the formulation of charges, guaranteeing the elimination of double standards and opposing practices (for impunity or, on the contrary for abusive investigation) applied to the same types of actions”, states the message signed by Victor Alistar and Romeo Chelaru.
They mention the fact that society needs a fight against corruption that is „relentless, lawful, objective and non-selective, and that would reach its purpose of deterring future criminal actions, and not one of compromises between the judicial system and the offenders for unlawful exchanges of favours and mutual support”.
„Therefore we strongly demand on behalf of the citizens and the civil society as a whole that the judicial system ensure the fact that in Romania – a social and democratic rule of law - human dignity, the rights and freedoms of citizens, the free development of human personality are supreme perennial values that are always fully defended and guaranteed”, the representatives of civil society within the SCM have also stated.
source: mediafax.ro