The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned this Tuesday Romania for having dismissed, because of its criticisms against legislative reforms, the director of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, who has since become the first head of the European Antifraud Prosecutor's Office. In this judgment, the ECHR judges that the dismissal in July 2018 of Laura Codruta Kovesi, a magistrate who has become an icon in the fight against corruption in her country, had violated her freedom of expression.
She was "dismissed because of the criticisms she had made in the exercise of her duties, on a matter of public interest", considers the ECHR. The Romanian government cannot justify, in the name of any legitimate aim, this interference in the exercise of the magistrate's freedom of expression, underlines the Court.
Prevent abuse
One of the tasks of this magistrate consisted in "expressing her opinion on legislative reforms likely to have consequences for the judiciary and on its independence, as well as on the fight against corruption". This dismissal, before the end of her second mandate as principal prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), was therefore "contrary to the very purpose of maintaining judicial independence" and could have discouraged the other prosecutors and judges from participating in the proceedings public on legislative reforms affecting the judiciary, point the judges of the ECHR.
Laura Codruta Kovesi welcomed the Court's judgment, saying that it clarified "a question of principle concerning the independence of prosecutors and, generally, of the judicial system". "By addressing the Court, my aim was to prevent such abusive procedures from being applied to other prosecutors," she said in a response to the Romanian media.
"Prevent similar sprains"
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, whose Liberal government replaced the Social Democratic executive in November who had done everything to get rid of this magistrate, for his part called for a reform intended to "prevent sprains similar to the principles and European values ”. The Court also found that Laura Codruta Kovesi had had no effective means to challenge her dismissal in court, "since such a procedure would have allowed the presidential dismissal decree to be examined only in form".
At the head of DNA between 2013 and July 2018, she came into resistance against the controversial reform of the judicial system led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) which her detractors accused of wanting to "control justice". Under his leadership, prosecutors indicted 14 ministers or former ministers, 43 parliamentarians and more than 260 local elected officials. Among them is former PSD strongman Liviu Dragnea, long regarded as the most powerful politician in the country.
The magistrate inspired the thousands of Romanian demonstrators who, since January 2017, have taken to the streets regularly, carrying signs bearing her name, to "defend the rule of law". The magistrate, 46, became in October 2019 the first head of the European Anti-Fraud Prosecutor's Office, a new key position within the bodies of the European Union. This independent body will be responsible, from the end of 2020, for finding, prosecuting and bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes affecting the finances of the EU.
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