Cristi Danileț, open letter to Nicușor Dan, after the Recorder investigation. “Here's What You Have To Do”

Former judge Cristi Dănileţ, campaigner for legal education of citizens, judicial independence and public responsibility, addressed an open letter to President Nicușor Dan, following the Recorder documentary about the state of justice in our country. Danilet believes that the head of state must do three things.

“Mr. President Nicușor Dan, here's what you have to do: 1. convene the CSM as a matter of urgency! 2. go and preside over the meeting! 3. demand disciplinary and criminal investigations into the serious problems in the judiciary!”, states the former judge, in the open letter, published Wednesday evening on his Facebook page.

“I remind you of these issues, as they have been exposed by brave magistrates since 2017 and culminating with those in the Recorder report: files preferentially distributed to prosecutors' offices and courts; orders given to prosecutors to solve cases in a certain way; delegations with dedication made by presidents of appeal courts for faithful people; detachments and transfers made with dedication by the CSM to remove judges from cases important; disciplinary investigations made by the Judicial Inspectorate regarding aspects of private life; disciplinary judgments made by the camp of 8 judges who violated the law in the case of several judges; the illegal re-opening of several criminal cases by the courts of law; as a result of the change of judges from the panel, although this is not provided for in any legal norm, being an abusive interpretation of ECDO jurisprudence; the lack of files regarding corrupt judges and prosecutors; files attributed to some magistrates”, noted Cristi Danileț.

The university professor also says that the head of state must remind the “correct magistrates that you are with them” and urges him to recognize their merits and constant efforts.

“At the same time, do not judge those without courage: the system designed in recent years is suffocating for an honest magistrate, he no longer has the time and energy for internal struggles. But be harsh with those who have derailed the mission of the justice system and taken it “individual”: justice without justice is only functional, judges with brains but without heart are only bureaucrats; and those who cunningly interpret the law to protect criminals are accomplices in illegalities”, the former judge also advises President Dan.

“The magistracy is noble and fair magistrates must be cherished, but the few who dishonored it must be removed. It's been 8 years since this situation has lasted. Enough!” concluded Danileț.

Cristi Danileț is a founding member, together with the presidential adviser Valentin Naumescu, of the Initiative Association for European Democratic Culture, an organization that showed its support for the candidacy of Nicușor Dan immediately after the cancellation of the presidential elections in December 2024.

Nicușor Dan's message, after the Recorder documentary

“The easiest thing is to revolt, once again, and throw generic blame”, reacted Nicușor Dan, in a message published on X announcing that he had seen the Recorder documentary “Captured Justice”. “It's even harder to solve the problems in the judiciary,” the president said.

“I don't want to excuse politics in any way. The fact that the anti-corruption fight has been dramatically reduced has political influence. The appointments of the chief prosecutors were political. Society has been talking about problems in the judiciary for a long time without seeing, at the level of the Ministry of Justice, the will to really get into them,” Nicușor Dan added in the post.

The documentary “Captured Justice” was published on Tuesday evening by the Recorder on its YouTube channel.

The documentary is an investigation about the state of justice in Romania, the phenomenon of statutes of limitations, but also the effects of the centralization of power at the level of “some magistrates who coexist with politicians”.

In the Recorder documentary, the military prosecutor Liviu Lascu, Crin Bologa, the former chief prosecutor of the DNA between the periods of Laura Codruța Kovesi and Marius Voineag, but also a prosecutor from the DNA and a judge from the Court of Appeal, who spoke anonymously, were interviewed.

Claudiu Sandu, representative of the prosecutors in the CSM, said that the excessively formal interpretation of the law led to the annulment of the evidence in the file “for anything”, for what he metaphorized as “a comma”.

“We ended up reinventing the law,” said Sandu, who said that “I don't remember a big guilty verdict lately.” The massacre of the idea of ​​justice, said Sandu, demobilizes the magistrates and disarms the citizens.