BORDER KILLINGS IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

(Alexandra Razvan-Mihalcea, lawyer, TIMISOARA Society, Timisoara)

The instauration of the communist regime in 1945 in Romania took most of the Romanian population by a kind of childish and ingenuous surprise.

Even if the communists took the power in several phases, first by imposing the first communist government in March 1945, then by forcing King Mihai to abdicate in December 1947, the Romanian society was far from being prepared for the hell which was about to arrive in the country.

During and after the war, many Romanians were at first sure, then their cetitude turned into mere hope, that the Allies will not abandon us to the bolsheviks.

It remained as anthological the expression that Romanians were dying killed by the communists, with their eyes turned to the sky to search the help coming miraculously from the American aircrafts, that never arrived…

The imported character of the Romanian communism (imposed with the force of arms by the soviet tanks) made the people believe that it will only be a temporary state, from which the civilized world will surely rescue us, for the sake of our European membership, of our role in the War and of our Royal family's (apparently) strong bounds with the other European rulers.

Few actually foresaw the immense tragedy to come.

Therefore, after seing that all attempts (both political and military) to fight communism and to save the country (naively tried first by the means of elections by the historical parties, still confident that genuine democracy will finally prevail, then heroicaly continued by the armed resistence in the mountains – which was prolonged far into the fifties), failed under the soviet barbarism and under the inside treason, many Romanians decided that the only way out of the communist inferno was crossing the border, no matter the cost, to the free world.

In theory, Romania was surrounded by other countries opressed by the soviet communist power (the soviet union itself to the east and north east, Bulgaria to the south, Hungary to the west-north-west). So, in principle, the positions of the totalitarian state were solid in terms of security of its borders. Romania became, starting with the mid forties, a large and terrible prison, which was able to suffocate even the slightest endevour to force its political and geographical limits.

Still, the west-south west frontier bordered the sui generis Yugoslavia, communist, but not sovietic, totalitarian, but opened to the free world.

This was the way Romanian fugitives most often considered as their chance to liberty.

(In the course of the eighties, fugitives were often considering chosing Hungary as a preferable route, for what we identified as two reasons:

1.Yugoslav authorities began to return to Romania fugitives seized already on their teritory; in these cases the fugitives were apprehended in Yugoslavia, sentenced to short term prison sanctions on the spot and then sent back to Romania, where they would face the true revengeful punishment of the regime. The base for this dramatic chance of atitude was a treaty between Romania and Yugoslavia, concluded in 1964, on the ground of which Yugoslavia would return fugitives to Romania and, in exchange, Romania would provide free food goods to Yugoslavia.

2.Hungary was witnessing a relaxation of statute on its border with Austria and became more opened to considering to “close its eyes” to many of the cases where its teritory was crossed by Romanian fugitives on their way to Austria and to the Western world.) Starting with 1986 an accord, similar with the one with Yugoslavia, comes into force.)

                                                                        - // -

The first years of communism in Romania were the experience of total and uncovered abuse. No authority really cared about domestic legislation, about international treaties or about human rights.

In time, the system became more and more perfidious and hypocrite, covering the crime under the shadow of legality. The criminal oppression became more and more professional.

Defending the state border from the “imminent invasion” of “the imperialists” or against “Tito the butcher” became a major priority to the Bucharest totalitarian regime.

No effort was big enough to defend this border, both from the attack of outsiders, but mostly from the attempts of “traitors” and “spies”, to leave the motherland and to compromise the cause and the “heroic achievments” of the working class. For these there was no mercy. They were treated as traitors and like deserters and eliminated as such.

Starting from the forties, border guards were entitled – in fact obliged – to use fire arms and any kind of other criminal means to stop fugitives from escaping.

From 1949 illegal crossing the Romanian border (both as a completed deed and as an attempt) was considered a crime and stipulated as such in the Penal Code. But boder crimes were tried and convictions ruled even from 1948.

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When analysing the complex phenomenon of the crimes commited on the Romanian border during the communist regime, we must study separately:

-statistics

-legislation of the time

-a proper way to approach each segment of information (the atitude of the totalitarian regime as a whole and/or the conduct of individual perpetrators in individual cases).

We have so far identified some sources of documentation:

1.Statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (henceforward refered to as UN Statistics)

2.Final Report from 2006 of the Presidential Commission for Investigating the communist dictatorship in Romania (Tismaneanu Report)

3. Books and other publications, such as:

-”Frontieristii” (“The Border Fugitives”), book written by the Timisoara journalist Brandusa Armanca and published in 2011 at the “Curtea Veche” publishing house (Brandusa Armanca book)

-”Granita” (“The Border”), book writen by the Timisoara journalist Doina Magheti and published in 2007 at the “Marineasa” publishing house (Doina Magheti book)

Other sources are the archives of courts, for analysing the court files, from the two perspectives:

1.the court files regarding the cases of the fugitives tried by the civil courts on the basis of the Romanian Penal Code (very numerous, but exclusively turned against living persons, captured while attempting to cross the state border). In these cases, the fugitives were tried for the crime of “illegal border crossing”, stipulated in the Romanian Penal Code adopted in 1968 under article 245.

(I myself, in my capacity of lawyer “stagiaire” at the time, defended, between 1986-1989, before the Hunedoara first instance court (“Judecatoria Hunedoara”), tenths of defendants prosecuted for article 245 of the Penal Code, being afterwards investigated myself by the Securitate officers for “too zealous activity in the interest of these defendants” and for suspicion of complicity or even faciliting defendants whom I was appointed to defend.)

Observation: the present law in force in todays Romania does not rehabilitate the convicted for border crossing. The majority of the old convicts still suffer from the total destruction of their lives (they lost their jobs, their income, some of them their families, they are regarded as criminals, people with criminal records that nobody want to have to do with). For these reasons, they would not speak about their experiences, out of persistent fear and shame.

2.the court files regarding the cases of perpetrators (border guards) in cases of killings or other agressions, commited against fugitives; these files were tried by military courts, considering the military status of the perpetrators. (we identified, for the year 1989, only one case of prosecution of a military border guard for killing a fugitive. Most of the other perpetrators were absolved from penal responsibility (and also from civil liability, since no family member would have dared to file a civil claim against the killer and no Romanian court of the time would have issued a ruling favorable to the family of the victim).

Crimes were commited both officially (in the form of the legitimate reaction of border guards facing a fugitive act) or unoficially (fugitives beaten to death, mangled to death by dogs).

It is well known and officially accepted that the fugitives caught by the border guards were submitted to severe abuse and to unimaginable brutality.

In this case too we must discern between the guards:

-who were using force out of a sense of duty and/or out of the fear in case of disobeying orders

-who were using force abusively and even in a sadistic way, killing for the pleasure of killing.

(One of the members of the Timisoara Society, journalist himself, the late Iosif Costinas, wrote and published in the nineties a number of articles investigating brutality, abuse and killing along the border. He was sued by a retired border officer, subject of the press stories, and Iosif Costinas was convicted by a Timisoara court for libel. Iosif Costinas dissapeared in may 2002. Human remains were found near Timisoara months after and were declared to be of Iosif Costinas, who was subsequently declared dead by a Timisoara court.)

In numerous situations, both before and after 1968, border fugitives were subject to political convictions, sentenced to death and executed. Their families were notified that they were legitimately shot while attempting to ilegally cross the state border.

One of the most common manner to try to escape was the crossing by swimming across the Danube – natural border line between Romania and Yugoslavia (sometimes with oxygen tubes, with special boats, with guides who would show them the best place to cross, but who very often betrayed them willingly or forcibly).

Many of the fugitives (we do not have numbers for the moment) were deadly shot while in the water or even after having already arrived on the Yugoslav shore. Some were just wounded, but died by drowning. On the today Serbian bank of the Danube (at a place called Cladova or Kladovo) there is a cemetery, where Romanian fugitives killed by Romanian border guards are buried).

Other known cemeteries were killed border fugitives were buried, along the Danube, were identified in the Brandusa Armanca book:

-Orsova (Mehedinti district, Romania)

-Varciorova (Caras Severin district, Romania)

-Markovac (Voivodina, Serbia)

-Novi Sip (Serbia)

-Golubinje (Serbia)

-Prahovo (Serbia)

-Donji Milanovac (Serbia)

-Kikinda (Serbia)

-Negotin (Serbia)

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We should also observe that the course of the history of communism in Romania is divided in two separate periods:

1.The soviet period (1945-1968), when Romania was governed according to the decisions issued in Moskow (and applied by the Romanian obedient servants of the soviets).

During this time the legislation was more or less uniform in all the countries behind the iron curtain. The official and unofficial reactions were brutal and primitive, the force was used openly and without any consideration to the law, which was only vaguely observed, but which was most of the time considered a waste of time.

In the legislation of that period we identify the Decision of the Council of Ministers (Hotararea Consiliului de Ministri) no. 1554/1952, which stipulates that courts can sentence to confinement in working camps “those condemned for sabotage, smuggling and illegal border crossing before and after 1945” (quote from the Tismaneanu Report).

The same source observes that the number of border fugitives in Romania increases from year to year, reaching the largest number between 1980-1989.

The Brandusa Armanca book asserts that “in 1958 the total number of border fugitives imprisoned in the Gherla penitentiary was of around 350 – 400”.

2.The nationalist period (1968-1989), when, 3 years after the coming into power of Ceausescu (1965), Romania turned into an autonomous dictatorship -firmly separated from the Soviet Union -, which invented its own means of preserving its border security.

In 1968 the Ceausescu regime adopts a new Penal Code, which incriminates the illegal border crossing in article 245 as a completed deed and as an attempt, fixing a punishment of imprisonment between 6 months and 3 years.

This period is characterized by the hypocrisy and perfidiousness we early mentioned and this becomes obvious by the adoption of the Decree no. 367/1971 concerning the regime of arms and ammunition, which forces the military border guards to use fire against any attempts to illegal crossing.

This legal regulation opens legitimate use of killing instruments along the Romanian borders.

(From the legal perspective, we can analyse two aspects:

1.the criminal politics of the Romanian communist state itself, that turns killing into a legal measure against border fugitives. This political step is to be put into balance with the Constitution newly adopted in 1965, which stipulates the inviolabilty of the person in article 31, but does not declare or guarrantee the right to life. This approach would imply the criminal responsibility of the Romanian state as an entity, which was thus violating the provisions of a number of international treaties previously signed (including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

2.the criminal (excesive) application of this law by individual border guards, who subsequently benefit from the protection of the state which does not prosecute or even less, convicts them for murder. This approach would imply criminal responsibility both for the perpetrator and (indirectly) for the state, which favored the crime, by the absence of any prosecuting action against the perpetrator.

Note: Romania (as other states too) has even at present in its legislation provisions which entitle border guards to open fire, after the legal summons, when the border line is being illegaly crossed in one sense or the other.

                                                                        - // -

The UN Statistics show that:

-between 1969 and 1989 over 100 000 Romanian citizens asked for political asylum in Western Europe

-the statistics do not include the ones returned to Romania by Yugoslavian or Hungarian authorities, nor they include the ones killed on the border.

-at least 80% from these had illegally crossed the border.

(Brandusa Armanca shows that, only in 1989, a number of 46 746 Romanians asked for political asylum in Western Europe.)

The long list of those who either tried or even succeeded to cross the border contains famous names, such as the champion gymnast Nadia Comaneci (who fled via Hungary in November 1989), the members of the rock band Phoenix and others.

For some of them the regime would limit to defame or to ignore (banning any reference to their names from the public conscience) after their act of treason.

For others of the fugitives, who became famous disidents well known for their constant fight against the communist regime from abroad (like Paul Goma, Cornel Chiriac - both journalists for Radio Free Europe based in Munchen at the time), the regime used its long criminal arm and murdered or tried to murder them, by sometimes using the services of the reputed hit man called “Carlos the Jackal”.

In fact, the Munchen offices of Radio Free Europe themselves were the target of attempts of bombing, organized by Romanian agents. (By mistake, the bombing was put in place on February 21^st, 1981, at the Radio Free Europe Czech section instead of the Romanian section.)

Another famously tragic case was the so called “Operation Bus”.

(In the nineties, the press opened a dramatic case which investigated the circumstances of the incidents happened near Timisoara in august 1981, when three young men took hostages the passengers of a bus in the Hunedoara district, trying to force the driver to cross the border.

The Militia and the Securitate proceeded to a totally chaotic operation to solve the crisis, by opening fire over the bus which was driving towards Timisoara, killing and severily injuring about 20 hostages. In the course of the operation, the 3 perpetrators – called terorists – where murdered by the authorities, by the direct order of Ceausescu.

After the publication of the press file, the prosecutors office begun the legal investigation ex officio, the file ending with the conviction of those responsable, according to the chain of command, until the Minister of the Interior active in 1981 (George Homosteanu), who was convicted in 1993. The sentence was stipulating the conviction for the execution, without any judgment, of the three, as well as for the killing of the hostages (at least 6 of them).

It was, according to what we know now, the only case finalized with convictions for an attempted border crossing after 1989.

                                                                        - // -

In order to identify the most efficient ways to study the border killings, it is important to study the archives of the Military Courts and especially the Military Prosecutor s office, for the files which never arrived to a court.

The access to these archives can be granted, by request, by the General Prosecutor of Romania.

Difficulties in obtaining the grant to study the archives could arise either from:

-the possible classification of the files, which could be overcome by legal proceedings to declassify them (see the proceedings used successfully by the Association “21 Decembrie 1989” from Bucharest – president Teodor Maries, member of the Timisoara Society – to obtain the declassification of a part of the Revolution files)

-the possible distruction of the files (the obligation to preserve them is – from what we learned – of 20 years maximum). Our investigation is still in course.

                                                                        - // -

The Proclamation of Timisoara (the document issued in March 1990 by the Timisoara Society) mentions that there is almost no ordinary Romanian (with the exception of the Nomenklatura and the Securitate) that has not thought, at least once in his/her lifetime, during the communist regime, to escape from Romania, which had became a huge and unbearable prison.

Too many of them were killed on their way to freedom. Here are some of them, enumerated in the book of Brandusa Armanca:

-Doru Briscan, age 19, beaten to death by border guards in Jimbolia in 1988

-Ion Ciucur, age 31, shot with 25 bullets by border guards in Livezile in 1983

-Rodica Dumitru, age 18, shot to death by border guards in Lescovita in 1984

-Dumitru Bunda, age 22, shot to death by border guards in Jamu Mare in 1985

-Savir Lesan, age 19, shot to death by border guards in Comlosu Mic in 1986

-Pavel Barz, age 30, shot in the back of the head by border guards in Deta in 1986

-Constantin Budac, age 26, shot to death by border guards in Comoraste in 1986

-Mircea Niculcea, age 25, shot to death by border guards in Partos in 1986

-Constantin Manaria, age 34, shot to death by border guards in Rusova in 1986

-Gheorghe Lionte, age 28, stabbed to death with the bayonet by border guards in Beba Veche in 1987

-Florian Cicort, age 47, shot to death by border guards in Jimbolia, in 1987

-Vlad Petru, age 24, shot to death by border guards in Comoraste in 1987

-Ioan Grab, age 23, shot to death by border guards in Jamu Mare in 1988

-Costica Caracet, age 25, shot to death by border guards in Jamu Mare in 1988

-Mircea Botocan, age 24, killed by a missile by border guards, in Rudna in 1989

-Mircea Bozgan, age 22, shot to death by border guards in Cruceni in 1989

-Ioan Roman from Utvin, shot in 1983

-Liviu Ursu, student from Cluj, shot in 1980

-Valentin Boari, killed and found in the Danube in 1987

-Ferenc Tamas from Reghin

-an unidentified girl who jumped from the train directly into the Danube, shot and killed by the border guards

...

Miniştrii de Justiție din 11 țări europene cer CONDAMNAREA crimelor comunismului

marţi 25 august 2015 

Miniștrii  Justiţiei  din  11  ţări  au  semnat o  declaraţie  comună despre  necesitatea înfiinţării  unui  tribunal  internaţional  pentru  investigarea  crimelor  comunismului.

Iniţiativa  a  fost înaintată de către ministrul Justiţiei din Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu, în cadrul conferinţei internaţionale de la Tallinn, dedicată împlinirii a 76 de ani de la semnarea Pactului Ribbentrop-Molotov. „Trebuie  să  estimăm  crimele  regimurilor  comuniste  la  nivel  internaţional  și  să  le  condamnăm împreună. În prezent, crimele comise de regimurile comuniste sunt în afara jurisdicţiei tribunalelor internaţionale. De aceea, propunem încheierea unui acord interstatal, în baza căruia să fie înfiinţat untribunal  internaţional  care  să  investigheze  crimele  comunismului,  în  același  mod  în  care  au  fostinvestigate  și  crimele  regimului  nazist”,  a  declarat  ministrul  estonian  al  Justiţiei,  citat  de  ziarul Postimees. El a mai precizat că, în vreme ce crimele naziste au avut parte, după procesul de la Nuremberg, de ocondamnare  legală,  recunoscută  la  nivel  internaţional,  crimele  regimului  comunist  nu  au  fost condamnate încă în acest mod.

Declaraţia de la Tallinn: „Victimele crimelor totalitare au dreptul la justiție”

Ȋn cadrul conferinţei  internaţionale de la Tallinn a fost adoptată o declaraţie comună, semnată de miniștrii Justiţiei din Estonia, Letonia, Lituania, Polonia, Cehia, Slovacia, Ungaria, Romania, Bulgaria, Ucraina și Georgia. „Ȋn  această  zi  pan-Europeană de comemorare  a  victimelor regimului  totalitar, comemorăm toate victimele acestor regimuri. Noi trebuie să luptăm împreună împotriva totalitarismului, indiferent de fundamentul său ideologic sau de formele sale de exprimare. Misiunea sistemului de învăţământ este aceea de a promova dreptatea istorică și de a oferi această dreptate tinerei generaţii, prin cunoștinţe adecvate despre genocidurile motivate ideologic și despre crimele comise în trecut împotriva umanităţii, dar și despre cauzele lor.

Memoria victimelor regimurilor totalitare ne obligă să condamnăm afișarea simbolurilor regimurilor totalitare, atunci când ele servesc tentativelor de a justifica și glorifica actele acestor regimuri. Toate  regimurile  totalitare,  precum regimul  nazist  și  regimul  comunist,  au restricţionat  sistematic libertăţile  oamenilor și  au încălcat drepturile lor,  în cele mai extreme forme,  prin crime motivateideologic  împotriva  umanităţii.  Multe  dintre  crimele  comise  de  regimurile  totalitare  au  fost genociduri, prin natura lor.

Genocidul și crimele împotriva umanităţii sunt infracţiuni ce nu se prescriu.

Victimele crimelor totalitare au dreptul la justiţie. Din păcate, practica de investigare și de urmărire penală a crimelor regimurilor comuniste a fost insuficientă și inconsistentă în multe ţări. Baza de  conciliere și  de  construire  a  unui  viitor  este  dreptatea.  Ȋn  competenţa  instanţelor internaţionale existente nu intră investigarea crimelor comise în trecut de regimurile comuniste și nici sancţionarea celor vinovaţi de ele.

Credem că este necesar să se analizeze posibilitatea unei cooperări internaţionale, în vederea înfiinţării unei instituţii speciale, care să investigheze crimele regimurilor totalitare, inclusiv crimele regimului comunist, așa cum crimele regimului nazist au fost condamnate,iar vinovaţii au fost pedepsiţi. Este important să formăm un grup de lucru din experţi care să studieze problema.

Credem că este necesar să subliniem că accesul  publicului la arhivele ce conţin informaţii  despre crimele tuturor regimurilor totalitare trebuie să fie asigurat în toate ţările. Facem un apel către guvernele tuturor ţărilor europene să ofere sprijin, atât moral, cât și material, pentru investigarea istoriei  regimurilor totalitare,  prevenind astfel  manipularea faptelor istorice,  și pentru  introducerea acestor rezultate în investigaţii”.

25 august 2015

DECLARAŢIA DE LA TALLINN

„În această zi pan-europeană de comemorare a victimelor regimurilor totalitare, ne aducem aminte de toate victimele acestor regimuri. Trebuie să fim uniţi împotriva totalitarismului, indiferent de sursele sale ideologice şi de forma lui de exprimare. Sarcina sistemului de educaţie este de a promova justiţia istorică şi de a oferi mai tinerei generaţii surse adecvate de cunoaştere a genocidelor motivate ideologic şi a crimelor împotriva umanităţii comise în trecut, dar şi a cauzelor lor. Memoria victimelor regimurilor totalitare ne obligă să condamnăm expunerea de simboluri ale regimurilor totalitare, acolo unde acestea servesc la tentative de a justifica şi eroiza actele acelor regimuri. Toate regimurile totalitare, ca cel nazist şi cel comunist, au restricţionat sistematic libertăţile oamenilor şi le-au încălcat drepturile, sub forma lor extremă de crime împotriva umanităţii, motivate ideologic. Multe dintre crimele comise de regimurile totalitare au fost de natură genocidală. Genocidul şi crimele împotriva umanităţii sunt crime care nu se prescriu. Victimele crimelor comise de regimurile totalitare au dreptul la justiţie. Din păcate, practica investigării şi condamnării crimelor regimului comunist este insuficientă şi lipsită de coordonare între ţări. Fundamentul pentru conciliere şi construirea viitorului îl reprezintă justiţia. Competenţa curţilor supranaţionale existente nu include investigarea crimelor din trecut comise de regimurile comuniste şi pedepsirea celor vinovaţi. Considerăm că este necesară explorarea posibilităţii unei cooperări supranaţionale pentru a înfiinţa o instituţie specială care să investigheze crimele regimurilor totalitare, incluzând crimele regimului comunist, aşa cum crimele regimului nazist au fost condamnate şi părţile vinovate pedepsite. Este important să se formeze o echipă de experţi care să analizeze această problemă. Considerăm că este necesar să evidenţiem faptul că toate ţările trebuie să asigure accesul public la arhivele care conţin informaţii legate de crimele regimurilor totalitare. Solicităm guvernelor tuturor ţărilor europene să ofere atât sprijin material, cât şi moral pentru investigarea istoriei regimurilor totalitare, pentru a preveni manipularea datelor istorice şi pentru valorizarea rezultatelor investigaţiilor."

10 martie 2010

 "PROCLAMAȚIA – 20"

 Programul manifestarilor:

 Societatea Timișoara

marți, 3 februarie 2009

În colaborare cu Centrul Cultural Francez, Societatea „Timişoara“ va derula programul „Filmul care doare“, constând în proiecţia o dată pe săptămână a câte unui documentar, pe durata intregului an 2009,  pe tema încălcării drepturilor fundamentale ale omului în diverse zone şi regimuri ale lumii contemporane.

 Primul dintre acestea va fi difuzat joi, 5 februarie a.c., cu începere de la ora 18, la sediul Societăţii „Timişoara“ - str. Goethe, nr. 2, (lângă bustul Regelui Ferdinand din Piaţa Victoriei). Proiecţia poate fi urmată de dezbateri. Intrarea este liberă. Filmul este difuzat în limba franceză.

 Este vorba despre „S-21, Maşina morţii a khmerilor roşii“ (2002, 105 minute), un film de Rithy Panh, produs de INA, ARTE France. Peliculei i-au fost decernate mai multe premii, printre care la: Festivalul internaţional de drepturile omului în lume - Praga 2004, URTI - Monte Carlo 2003 şi Nűrnberg 2003.

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În timpul regimului khmerilor roşii din Cambodgia (1974 – 1979), printre alte nenumărate orori, aproape 20.000 de persoane au fost internate, torturate şi apoi executate în lagărul de detenţie S-21, situat în centrul capitalei, Phnom Penh. Timp de trei ani, realizatorul filmului a făcut o anchetă laborioasă şi complexă. Confruntandu-i pe călăi cu victimele lor, Rithy Panh conturează o imagine bulversantă, cutremurătoare, a mecanismelor terorii în totalitarism.

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Rithy Panh

 Născut în Cambodgia, în 1964, evadat dintr-un lagăr al khmerilor roşii, Rithy Panh a ajuns în Franţa în 1980. A semnat primul său film  în 1989. În toate documentarele, a descris tragedia poporului său, dar şi dificultăţile de acum ale unei societăţi fără memorie. A iniţiat crearea unui centru de resurse audiovizuale în Cambodgia. În Centrul Bophana, inaugurat în 2004 şi  destinat memoriei colective a poporului cambodgian, consultarea arhivelor este deschisă tuturor.

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12:00-12:05 Florian Mihalcea – Cuvânt de deschidere

12:05-12:45 Cristian Hatu – Anti-corupţia în state slabe - etică şi responsabilitate în administraţia locală românească.

Prezentarea generală a proiectului ”Îmbunătaţirea rolului de monitorizare al societăţii civile” şi evaluarea rezultatelor.

12:45-13:00 Discuţii

13:00-13:10 Coffee break

13:10-14:00 Laura Ştefan – Prezentarea tipologiilor de incompatibilităţi şi conflicte de interese întâlnite la nivel local. Mecanismele de reacţie împotriva acestora.

14:00-14:15 Discuţii

14:15-14:45 Societatea Filarmonică din Timişoara - moment muzical

15 martie 2008

Programul manifestarilor de la Timisoara

Sambata, 15.03.2008

 Ora 10 - Vernisajul expozitiei "O cronologie a razboiului rece 1945-1989" realizata de Ana Blandiana si Romulus Rusan, in prezenta autorilor, care va avea loc la Memorialul Revolutiei, str. Ungureanu nr.8.

Ora 12 - Decernarea premiilor Societatii si ziarului Timisoara si dezbaterea "Societatea civila si interesele transpartinice", la sala Adam Muller Guttenbrunn  la care vor participa Ana Blandiana, Romulus Rusan, Ion Caramitru, Florin Postolachi, Sorin Ionita si Radu Filipescu (cei care au confirmat pana in prezent participarea).

22 iunie 2007

Initiativa pentru o Justitie Curata (IJC) va constitui un grup de lucru care va informa periodic, corect si consistent opinia publica cu privire la calitatea actului de justitie, prin monitorizarea reformelor în domeniu si prin evaluarea deciziilor si actiunilor guvernamentale în sfera justitiei. 

Prin demersurile ei, Initiativa pentru o Justitie Curata contribuie la realizarea unei guvernari curate în România, la consolidarea reformelor în justitie si la continuarea luptei împotriva coruptiei.

Dupa 2 ani de progrese în domeniu, realizate într-un mediu tot mai ostil, scurta perioada de dupa aderarea României la Uniunea Europeana în ianuarie 2007 a demonstrat cu claritate fragilitatea vointei politice privind lupta împotriva coruptiei si mentinerea ritmului reformelor. Imediat dupa înlocuirea fostului titular al portofoliului, Monica Macovei, persoana fara agenda partinica si privita de catre Bruxelles ca o garantie a îmbunatatirii climatului de independenta a justitiei fata de politic, presa a început sa aduca în atentia opiniei publice cazuri de încalcare a independentei procurorilor la cel mai înalt nivel, încercari de a influenta procesul de avizare a legilor la nivelul Ministerului Justitiei, atacuri ale unor parlamentari si oficiali guvernamentali împotriva activitatii Directiei Nationale Anticoruptie, abuzuri în politica de resurse umane la nivelul Ministerului Justitiei (MJ) si Administratiei Nationale a Penitenciarelor (ANP).

Constatam ca sistemul judiciar se afla într-o stare de provizorat si incertitudine, într-un moment în care ar trebui sa fie în plina reforma. El functioneaza mai mult din inertie, pe baza obiectivelor si mecanismelor stabilite anterior. Nu au fost propuse obiective noi, cu adevarat utile, dupa remanierea Guvernului. Mai grav, masurile în curs nu sunt implementate potrivit obligatiilor asumate.

De aceea, Initiativa pentru o Justitie Curata îsi propune:
• monitorizarea procesului legislativ si de avizare a actelor normative la nivelul Guvernului, în special cu privire la actele normative „cu destinatie”;
• monitorizarea si evaluarea gestiunii resurselor umane, materiale si informationale în sistemul judiciar si penitenciar;
• evaluarea calitatii procedurilor interne si a managementului din MJ si ANP;
• evaluarea practicii judiciare în cazurile de coruptie si de infractiuni conexe celor de coruptie;
• evaluarea procesului legislativ referitor la structurile implicate în combaterea coruptiei si criminalitatii organizate;
• elaborarea de rapoarte, recomandari si politici alternative pe temele enumerate.

Desi Coalitia pentru o Guvernare Curata si ONG-urile care o compun sustin Guvernul si partidele politice în adoptarea si implementarea de masuri în sfera bunei guvernari si a anticoruptiei, marca distinctiva a IJC este credinta ca, atunci când apar blocaje datorate lipsei de vointa politica, societatea civila are si datoria de a interveni în mod direct în stoparea coruptiei si în favoarea unei justitii curate. O tara trebuie sa aiba legi bune, dar acestea nu se aplica automat în practica fara sprijin si supervizare atenta din partea actorilor sociali. Numai oamenii care au de pierdut din pricina coruptiei pot actiona pentru a umple golul dintre România legala si România reala si pentru a crea România curata.

 Organizatii membre

Academia de Advocacy

Alianta Civica

Asociatia „Societatea pentru Justitie” – SoJust

Freedom House România

Grupul pentru Dialog Social (GDS)

Societatea Academica din România (SAR)

Societatea Timisoara