An international organization calls for an investigation into the threats against Emilia Șercan. “PSD to refrain from personal attacks on journalists”
Emilia Sercan, Photo: Inquam Photos / Bogdan Buda
The International Press Institute (IPI), an international organization involved in the defense of the freedom of the press and journalists in the European Union and the candidate countries for EU accession, sent a message of support for the journalist Emilia Șercan and condemning the slanders and threats that came after she published an analysis of the doctoral thesis of the Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, which it said was plagiarized in proportion to more than half.
“The International Press Institute today condemns the online slander, harassment and death threats directed against Emila Șercan, a member of IPI and a renowned Romanian investigative journalist, following her report on the alleged plagiarism of Justice Minister Radu Marinescu's doctoral thesis. IPI expresses its full solidarity with Șercan and calls for a swift police investigation into all serious threats to her safety,” a message reads posted on the organization's website.
“A prompt and impartial investigation”
IPI recalls the article published by Emilia Șercan in PressOne, regarding a possible plagiarism committed by the current Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, as well as his reaction
“The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) issued a public statement personally attacking Șercan, falsely stating that the investigation was a politically motivated attempt to dismiss the minister”, says the IPI press release, which also mentions what Emilia Șercan said regarding the hundreds of intimidation and threatening messages received on social networks.
The organization specifies that Șercan was the victim of similar campaigns in 2022 as well, after making accusations of plagiarism against the then prime minister, Nicolae Ciucă.
“IPI has constantly advocated for justice in the Șercan case, expressing its concern about the violation of her professional and procedural rights, including the criminal proceedings that were erroneously managed and lacked objectivity”, reports the organization, which also asks the Romanian authorities to do “a quick and impartial investigation” regarding the threats that targeted Emilia Șercan.
“We also urge the ruling Social Democratic Party and its leaders to refrain from personal attacks on journalists and from inciting hate speech against members of the media,” the IPI message also says.
In addition to the message of support, IPI launched an alert on the Mapping Media Freedom platform, a database that records violations of press freedom and journalists' rights. In addition, the case will be reported to the Council of Europe's Platform for the Safety of Journalists, which will request confirmation from the Romanian authorities regarding the measures taken by law enforcement to combat the threats.
The journalist's accusations and PSD's reaction
Minister Radu Marinescu's doctoral thesis will be verified by the university where he obtained it
More than half of the doctoral thesis in Law of the Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, is plagiarized, claimed Emilia Șercan in the PressOne article, published on January 12. According to the analysis, at least 56.68% of the pages of the work with the title “Evidence system in the civil process” contain text copied from other authors, more precisely 140 of the 247 pages of the work.
Radu Marinescu obtained the title of Doctor of Law in 2009, at the Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences of the University of Craiova, under the supervision of Professor Ion Dogaru.
Radu Marinescu reacted to the PressOne investigation, stating that “truth cannot be synonymous with simple media allegations, even bizarre” and insisting that his thesis was “in accordance with the legislation at that time”.
Also on Monday, in the first public reaction after the revelations in PressOne, PSD harshly attacked the journalist Emilia Șercan and accused a “vile maneuver”: “A person cannot substitute himself for the legal institutions of the state and cannot give verdicts that clearly contradict the official decisions of these courts, even less when the person in question is himself an impostor and plagiarized his own bachelor thesis”.
On Tuesday, the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the University of Bucharest (FJSC) expressed its “full support” towards Emilia Șercan, who is a lecturer at the faculty, in the context of the attacks from PSD representatives.
