The Vaslui Court forbids the press to relate the testimonies of the witnesses in Dumitru Buzatu's bribery. How did the judge motivate
Today's decision of the court was taken after one of the lawyers of the former president of CJ Vaslui asked for this. The judge admitted the request, motivating that unhealed witnesses could find out what those who arrive before them say. Most witnesses in the Buzatu file are former employees of CJ Vaslui, and they have no prohibition to contact each other.
The lawyers who defend Dumitru Buzatu and Radu Judle, the file in the file accused of asking for bribes, said, at today, that the presence of journalists in the courtroom and the press reports represent a form of pressure on the execution of justice.
Their request comes after the Local Vaslui newspaper “Weather Nouă” reported after the last trial that the judges spoke on the lobby of the Vaslui Court with one of the witnesses in the file, although this was forbidden.
Both Dumitru Buzatu and Radu Judle are under the extent of judicial control, being forbidden to communicate with witnesses in the file.
The court questioned the change of the judicial control measure regarding the judge's defendant, and on Monday the judge ordered the viewing in the public hearing on the court hall. The images confirmed that the defendant Judges approached the witness in the file and discussed for 30 seconds. He motivated in front of the judge that they were just greeted.
The judge left the decision in the ruling, the trial continuing on the merits. Two witnesses – former subordinates of Dumitru Buzatu were scheduled for Monday hearings.
One of Buzatu's lawyers pleaded for the presence of journalists in the room
Before starting the hearings, the lawyer Liviu Bran, who represents the judges, requested the declaration of the non -public meeting. For his part, one of Dumitru Buzatu's lawyers requested that, if the hearing will remain public, the court will prohibit journalists from relating about hearings.
Surprisingly, Kristian Winzer, the second lawyer defending Buzatu, advocated for the presence of the press in the courtroom, was the lawyer, saying that “not all journalists must be punished for any subjective accounts of a publication.”
And the DNA prosecutor opposed the prohibition of the press at the trial, showing that this is a file of wide public interest, considering the important positions occupied for a long time one of the defendants in the file, with reference to Dumitru Buzatu.
What the judge said
Judge Cornelia Vezeteu, the one invested to resolve this case, announced that the court hearing is public, but the press is no longer allowed to relate about the hearings in the file, on the grounds that unused witnesses could find out what those who arrive before them.
The magistrate invoked article 352, par. (9) of the Code of Criminal Procedure which stipulates that “during the judgment, the court may prohibit the publication and dissemination, by written or audiovisual means, of texts, drawings, photographs or images of a nature to reveal the identity of the injured person, the civil party, the civilly responsible party or of the witnesses”.
Witnesses do not have the prohibition to speak between them
At the beginning of the substantive judgment, the court admitted the re -order of 27 witnesses in the file, most of them being employees of the County Council. Being witnesses, no prohibition is imposed on them, being able to be aware of what some have said in the courtroom and outside the press reports.
The hearings scheduled on Monday at the Vaslui Tribunal are in full deal, one of the witnesses offering explanations for more than four hours. At one point, the meeting also had a tense moment, the witness heard replicating in a firm tone to the judge: “Please do not quarrel!”, When it insisted on providing more details.
Bag with 1.25 million lei
Dumitru Buzatu was preventively arrested for seven months, after in September 2023 he was caught by DNA with a bag with 1.25 million lei. Money about which the businessman Emil Savin claimed to represent 10% of the value of the project funded by CJ Vaslui and which Buzatu would have asked, indirectly, as a bribe.
Savin claimed, at DNA, that in the local level, among the builders, it was notorious that he must offer bribe to the president of the Vaslui County Council to win projects. The amounts vary depending on the value of the contract.
HotNews.ro asked the Vaslui Tribunal to specify whether in the public, public criminal files, there were also situations in which the press was forbidden to relate about the hearings in the file. The institution has not yet answered.
