Four years of trials, the judge was changed while he was in judgment and the sentence postponed 23 times. How the trial of a state secretary investigated by the DNA was delayed

The case in which Ionel Minea, former PSD state secretary in the Ministry of Transport in the governments of Mihai Tudose and Viorica Dăncilă, is on trial, was sent to trial by the DNA in 2021, but it has not been resolved by the Ilfov Court either. The case magistrate was transferred to a penitentiary, as a delegated judge, when he was to deliver the decision. The second judge restarted the trial from scratch and stayed the ruling on February 17, but since then there have been successive adjournments. On December 18, a new term is scheduled for the pronouncement of the decision.

• Surprised by the radar at 201 km/h on the highway, the secretary of state made his chief of staff take the blame on him, according to DNA.
• During the 4 years of trials, the court changed his legal classification to a milder crime compared to the one with which the DNA sent him to trial.
• According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the maximum term for drafting a court decision is 30 days.

The former Secretary of State Ionel Minea was sent to court by the DNA for “incitement to abuse of office” and “incitement to intellectual forgery”. The file was registered at the Ilfov Court at the end of 2021 and was assigned to judge Răzvan Păstilă, the former president of the Criminal Section, according to the session conclusions. The initial course of the trial did not indicate a long trial: the hearing of the witnesses was rhythmic, and the evidence was administered on time.

Minea achieved a first victory in court two years after being sent to court, on April 24, 2023. Then, the judge ruled to exclude all “illegally obtained” evidence, citing a decision of the Constitutional Court. It was about the data reports communicated by the mobile phone company, which showed that Minea's phone was located on Autostrada Soarelui at the moment when his company car was caught by the radar driving at 201 kilometers per hour.

After the file was left without one of the key pieces of evidence, two days later, Ionel Minea requested a change of legal classification. His lawyer supported the request, pointing to another well-known case of identity substitution – that of General Cristian Radu, Raed Arafat's former deputy, who had his driver assume an accident in his place, according to the conclusion of the Ilfov Court session of April 26, 2023.

The lawyer, the conclusion shows, indicated the case of General Radu, emphasizing that, although the files are similar, the approach of the investigators was different. For the instigation to abuse of office, the most serious crime found in the case of Minea, the punishment limits are between 2 and 7 years, according to the Penal Code, while for intellectual forgery, the most serious crime found in the case of Raed Arafat's former deputy, the punishment limits are between 1 and 5 years.

After two months, judge Paștilă decided to change the charge to a milder one. Of the two crimes for which Ionel Minea was sent to court – instigation to abuse of office and instigation to intellectual forgery – the judge decided that the defendant should be tried only for instigation to forgery in statements.

The case judge, delegated to the penitentiary when he was in sentencing

The Minea case missed the judgment on the merits in June 2023, due to the protests of the magistrates. And then, the magistrates blocked the activity, against the background of dissatisfaction related to the reform of service pensions.

Resumed after the court recess, the trial was completed on October 18, 2023, when the judge remained in judgment, postponing the initial verdict to December, then to January 2024.

However, Judge Păștilă did not get to pronounce the sentence in the case he tried for two years, being delegated to the Slobozia Penitentiary.

HotNews asked the Ilfov Court for clarifications regarding the appointment of judge Paștilă as a delegated judge, but the institution did not respond to the request. Judicial sources stated that the appointment of a court judge, even the one who leads the criminal division, in such a position does not represent a custom. As a rule, magistrates are seconded to judges in such positions, whose jurisdiction includes the resolution of parole applications.

The second judge

At the end of January 2024, the president of the Criminal Section of the Ilfov Court, judge Constantin Ioan Dari, announced the reinstatement of the Minea file for judicial investigation. The process was thus restarted from scratch.

On October 16, 2024, the judicial investigation of Magistrate Dari ended, which remained pending.

After seven postponements of the sentence, on December 20, 2024, Judge Dari decided to put the file back on the docket, to once again question the legal framework. In February 2025, it remained pending again, and from then until now, the sentence in the Minea case has been postponed 23 times. The next deadline for the pronouncement of the decision is set for December 18.

The file of the former Secretary of State Ionel Minea does not represent a complex legal case, which would justify such a long court process, said several lawyers consulted by HotNews.

“Relating to the crimes brought to trial, such a case cannot be considered a case of high complexity. It is not a case that requires expertise, additional expertise or a large volume of witnesses, as happens in large cases of corruption or organized crime that justify a long legal process. Of course, one of the reasons for the postponement of decisions can be the caseload of the magistrates, but this situation is valid in most cases the courts,” explained one of the lawyers consulted by HotNews, who did not want to be identified.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the maximum term for drafting a court decision is 30 days. Recently, the General Prosecutor's Office decided to send judge Monica Claudia Cipariu from the Bucharest Court to court, because she delayed 5 years in drafting a decision in a case of attempted murder. The magistrate, also signaled the CSM, had over 800 decisions for which there were major delays in drafting.

The DNA allegations against the former Secretary of State for Transport

Former Secretary of State in the period 2017-2019, Ionel Minea was charged by DNA prosecutors following an incident in January 2019. A car belonging to the Constanța National Company Administration of Maritime Ports (CNAPM) was caught by the radar driving on Autostrada Soarelui at 201 km/h. Minea is at the wheel, according to DNA. When the police sent an address to tell them who was behind the wheel, Minea asked his chief of staff, Dumitru Nistor Stejărel, who was at the ministry's headquarters, to assume the offense.

Accused by the prosecutors, Stejărel admitted that he was not behind the wheel, but the secretary of state, but said that he was mentally forced by Minea to take the blame.

Dumitru Nistor Stejărel entered into a plea agreement, being sentenced in March 2022 to 2 years and 2 months in prison. Ionel Minea contested the conclusion of the plea agreement concluded by his former subordinate, but in December 2022 the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected his appeal as inadmissible.