The decision taken by judge Beșu, after the revelations in the Recorder documentary. Request made to CSM

Laurențiu Ionel Beșu, the judge who made revelations in the documentary published by Recorder, “Captured Justice”, no longer wants to work at the court in Bucharest where he works now.

He made a request addressed to the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) in which he requests to work as a prosecutor in Giurgiu, informs Agerpres on Friday.

Thus, an announcement was posted on the SCM website stating that next week the interview will take place at the Prosecutors' Section of the SCM in the procedure for the appointment from the position of judge to that of prosecutor, according to the provisions of Law no. 303/2022 regarding the status of judges and prosecutors.

What the procedure provides

According to the procedure, upon their reasoned request, judges can be appointed as prosecutors at the prosecutor's offices attached to the judges, and prosecutors can be appointed as judges at the judges, by decree of the President of Romania, upon the proposal of the Section within the SCM.

Among the 14 judges applying to become prosecutors is Laurentiu Beșu, who is a magistrate at the Bucharest Court.

He has now asked to be appointed prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Giurgiu Court.

His hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, December 16, at noon.

Judge Beșu's revelations from the Recorder investigation

In the documentary aired on Tuesday evening by the Recorder, entitled “Captured Justice”, judge Laurențiu Beșu makes revelations about serious facts that happened at the Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB), the court where he worked for a while, after being transferred, by delegation, from the Giurgiu Court.

Laurentiu Beșu said that, after he came to the CAB, his new colleagues told him that he was moved because they no longer wanted him to be part of the panel that tried the doctor Mircea Beuran, accused of corruption.

“I was approached by the president of the Giurgiu Tribunal, who proposed that I go to the Bucharest Court of Appeal, that the Court called and now is the time to make a decision, to think and tell her on the same day. I thought and said that yes, it is a good decision to promote. This stagnation in the profession also intervenes and you think about evolving”, said Beșu, in the “Captured Justice” investigation.

“The judges at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, Section II, were perplexed by my arrival there. Later, there were discussions with colleagues from the Court, who told me: “You see that you had a case there and, from what we know, it is a practice that in sensitive cases there are changes in the composition of the panel”. And then I realized that I had the file of Mr. Dr. Beuran on file at the Giurgiu Court. (…) No I raised the issue that there is a connection between the alleged promotion and a certain file”, the judge stated in the documentary.

“Some colleagues, who are older there (at the Court of Appeal, no) assured me that “be sure there is a connection”. The case was resolved by another colleague, with an acquittal solution. We do not comment on the colleagues' solutions. An appeal was formulated, at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, and the acquittal solution remained”, added the judge.

Later, Laurențiu Beșu stated in the Recorder investigation, his delegation to the CAB was extended several times, until the spring of this year, when he joined a panel that had an appeal pending in the case of Niculae Bădălău.

At the hearing of the appeal, he had a different opinion from his colleague from the panel, and shortly after he was informed by the head of the CAB section that his delegation would not be extended.

Beșu, about his statements in the documentary: “Everything I said is true and can be verified”

On Thursday, Laurențiu Beșu reacted after the Bucharest Court of Appeal accused him of lying and asked him to urgently clarify his status. The judge said, on Euronews Romania, that it is public, in his CV, that he worked at “Two and a quarter” – the intelligence service of the Ministry of the Interior (MAI).

“From my point of view, all this discussion about my professional career is only an attempt to discredit my person, implicitly to induce the idea that what I said is false. Everything I said is true and can be verified from the documents from the CAB or with information from the court portal. To clarify my professional career, it was always public, it was not secret, it was published on the website of the Fetești Court, the court where I started my career as a magistrate. I I finished the military high school in Ploiesti, then I attended the Police Academy course. I was an officer at the Giurgiu County Police Inspectorate between 2001 and 2006. Then between 2006 and 2011 I was an officer at the Giurgiu County Information Service,” the magistrate told Euronews Romania.

“Every year I give statements showing that, between 2006 and 2011, I worked in this service. Obviously, at this moment, I no longer have anything to do with this service, because the law on the status of the magistrate clearly states that you cannot be a magistrate and at the same time be an intelligence officer or have any connection with an intelligence service. My certificate, submitted to the file for the admission to the judiciary, is issued by the DGPI. It is mentioned that is issued in order to be attached to the application for admission to the judiciary. Every year I give a statement in which I mention this information. There are many judges or prosecutors who have been employees of the Ministry of the Interior,” he added.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal on Wednesday qualified the statements of judge Ionel Laurențiu Beșu as “derogatory and without factual coverage”. Moreover, the CAB insinuated, pointing to several press articles from last year, that Judge Beșu was an undercover agent and publicly demanded that he urgently clarify his status.

Message of solidarity with the magistrates appearing in the Recorder inquiry

More than 500 judges and prosecutors have so far sent a message of solidarity with the magistrates who made the revelations in the Recorder documentary: “Truth and integrity must not be sanctioned, but protected,” they say.

The number of signatories to the message of solidarity with the magistrates who made the revelations in the Recorder documentary reached 518 on Friday.

The list is opened by the former head of DNA Laura Codruța Kovesi, who now heads the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

Among the signatories are also 33 judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

On Thursday evening, the list was signed by 178 prosecutors and judges, some of them retired. By noon on Friday, their number had reached 518.

18 prosecutors from DNA and 61 from DIICOT are also on the list of those who stood up against “captured justice”. The signatories are judges and prosecutors from several courts and prosecutor's offices in the country, including Brașov, Iasi, Arad, Baia Mare, Sibiu, Oradea, Satu Mare.

“We publicly express our solidarity with the magistrates who had the courage to denounce the problems and pressures in the justice system. The truth and integrity must not be sanctioned, but protected. Silence is not an option when the values of the profession are endangered. At the same time, we emphasize that the reported aspects are not isolated. Deep and systemic dysfunctions persist, and their assumption is essential. Justice needs not only courage, but also a real, honest reform to be able to remain free, fair and credible – in the service of the citizen”, say the signatories, in their message published on social networks.