Confronted with serious accusations in the Recorder documentary, Lia Savonea says it's a “campaign to delegitimize some justice leaders”

“I do not intend to legitimize an area that operates deliberately in the register of ambiguity and insinuation, including when such positions come from within the system,” the head of the High Court, Lia Savonea, told Hotnews after the Recorder documentary “Captured Justice”.

Asked by HotNews if he would resign as head of the supreme court following the serious allegations against him, Savonea said: “Your question does not require an answer. It is clear. However, I am answering you. Out of respect for the media, as a matter of principle.”

She accused “a persistent campaign to delegitimize some justice leaders”: “The situation of the judicial system is serious and cannot be ignored. I am carefully analyzing what steps are needed. We are, unfortunately, facing a persistent campaign to delegitimize some justice leaders, built on anonymous statements and accusations presented as truths, without being supported by verified facts.”

“The context is more complex than it seems at first glance, which is why I have the obligation to thoroughly document all aspects before having a public reaction. Given the position I occupy, I cannot allow hasty interventions or interventions that could be interpreted”, declared Lia Savonea.

“At the same time, it is clear that this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue without clarifying all the allegations.
I do not intend to legitimize a zone that deliberately operates in the register of ambiguity and innuendo, including when such positionings come from within the system,” she added.

Recorder: Lia Savonea, behind some controversial appointments at the Bucharest Court of Appeal

Recorder claims that, in recent years, judges brought from other courts in the country, with controversial biographies and whose close relatives had serious problems with the law, were promoted to the management of the Bucharest Court of Appeal. According to the publication, behind the promotions was Lia Savonea, the current president of the High Court, who in the last 15 years has held key positions in the judicial system and who is indicated by several magistrates as the “absolute leader of the Romanian Judiciary”.

The Recorder says Lia Savonea had a controversial route. In 2010, she was questioned by the DNA for alleged relations with the PSD-ist Cătălin Voicu's network, and then she was rejected by the CSM for reasons of integrity when she tried to promote to the High Court, but later she had a meteoric rise. Savonea became a member of the CSM, gathered an anti-reformist majority that supported the legislative changes promoted by the PSD during Liviu Dragnea's time, and recently took over the leadership of the High Court.

The publication claims that legislative changes in recent years have cemented a pyramidal organization in the justice system, where the entire judicial system is controlled by magistrates in key positions. According to the testimonies in the documentary, an atmosphere of fear has been established among honest magistrates and there are situations in which, if you have opinions contrary to the leadership of the court, you end up being checked by the Judicial Inspection, “which will surely find something for you”.