Bucharest’s Military Court of Appeal set a hearing for Oct. 13, three days after the expected limitation deadline for some charges. Recorder journalists and a lawyer for the protesters say the delay could shield gendarmes from criminal liability.
Lawyer Toni Decean told Recorder that the statute of limitations could affect both 12 defendants acquitted by the Bucharest Military Tribunal in June and four gendarmes who received suspended sentences. The first-instance ruling has been appealed. The Military Court of Appeal postponed the hearing on Sept. 22 and rescheduled it for Oct. 13.
The case concerns the dispersal of an anti-government protest in Bucharest’s Victory Square on Aug. 10, 2018. DIICOT, Romania’s organized-crime prosecutor’s office, initially closed the investigation in 2020. It reopened in spring 2022 after a protester filed a challenge.
Among those acquitted were former Romanian Gendarmerie chief Gheorghe Sebastian Cucoș, former deputy head of the Bucharest Gendarmerie Laurențiu Cazan and former first deputy chief of the national force Cătălin Sindile. They had faced abuse-of-office charges.
Four Bucharest gendarmes were found guilty of abusive conduct and each received a one-year prison sentence with delayed enforcement. Their convictions will not appear on their criminal records if they commit no new offenses during a two-year supervision period. They were also ordered to pay a total of 52,000 lei in moral damages to four injured protesters. The tribunal rejected compensation claims brought by more than 400 other protesters against the former Gendarmerie leaders.
Former Romanian prosecutor general Gabriela Scutea told Recorder that a formal end to the case would not strengthen public confidence in the right to assemble. Retired lieutenant general Gheorghe Cosneanu, a former head of the military prosecutors’ section, called the case another failure of justice. Asked who was responsible for the lost time, he replied: “We all are.”