How much does a person’s life value for the justice system in Romania? Interpellation addressed to the Ministry of Justice

Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread and most devastating forms of human rights violations in the world. This violence represents a barrier to gender equality, to human rights and to the development of women as a whole, as well as an obstacle to achieving sustainable development goals. Every 30 seconds, a woman is beaten in Romania. In 2017, there were 20,531 acts of beatings and other violence committed among family members, the most affected category being women – 46 of them were killed.

Romania ratified the Istanbul Convention on September 1, 2016, and due to compulsory legislative harmonization on the prevention and combating of domestic violence, important steps were taken to better protect the victims. Namely, the following: the imposition of the provisional protection order issued by police officers when evacuating the aggressor from their house. Before this legislative amendment, victims were forced to take several steps in order for a judge to enforce this temporary protection measure. Now, the process is simplified and aims to help victims.

However, the mechanisms established by law seem to remain only on paper, and the aggressors continue to be favored by the authorities. According to the situation presented by the media, a woman who needed 3 days of medical care following the violence suffered by her husband, could not find justice in the Romanian court as the prosecutor who handled the case ordered the renunciation to criminal prosecution against the defendant. Thus, the prosecutor who instrumented and solved the case in the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Cluj County Court, considered that the trial would involve higher costs than the consequences of the man’s violent behavior.

Interpellation addressed to the Ministry of Justice

In the context of the case reported above, I addressed an interpellation to the Minister of Justice asking the following questions:

  • According to the prosecutor’s ordinance, there was “a clear disproportion between the expenses that carrying out the criminal case would involve and the severity of the proceedings, hence there was no public interest in continuing the criminal prosecution in this case.” What was the procedure of the calculations of budgetary impact of exercising the right to protection and defense, respectively the right to life and to physical and mental integrity? To what extent should a person be allowed to stand up for justice in the face of violence from a partner or another family member? How much is the fight worth and how much does the life of a human being value from the perspective of the Romanian justice system? What are the criteria according to which one decides who deserves to be defended by the justice system in the face of domestic violence?
  • How many cases of violence were registered in 2018 and how many of them resulted in a criminal complaint? How many complaints led to prosecution and what were the criteria that represented the basis for the disposition, maintenance, and renunciation of the criminal prosecution? In how many cases was the trial ordered, on what criteria and how were they resolved?
  • In the case mentioned above, what were the actions taken to correct the situation, what were the disciplinary measures taken regarding the prosecutor in question and what are the steps you have taken or are going to take to prevent such situations from occurring in the future?

Violence against women is the most widespread form of human rights violation of all time and a form of discrimination aimed at hurting and harming the economic, mental, sexual and physical state of women.

Reality shows us how difficult it is to accurately estimate the extent of violence against women. According to a study by the European Institute for Gender Equality in Romania, the population’s confidence in the police is below 50%, well below the EU average of over 70%. Thus, many victims of domestic violence choose not to notify the authorities about the cases of abuse they have been subjected to, either because they are ignored, threatened by the aggressors, or because they do not expect real justice from the justice system.

Violence does not manifest itself in an isolated episode. It repeats itself especially when no action is taken. A situation in which the criminal prosecution was renounced because of the expenses involved in carrying out the criminal trial does nothing more than strengthen the lack of confidence of the victims in state authorities.