The head of the ANP admits that he personally approved the three-day permit for the Turk who escaped from Rahova

Bogdan Burcu, the general director of the National Penitentiary Administration (ANP), however, admitted that, in the approval process, “it is possible that there was also a negative opinion“.

The head of the ANP declared on Tuesday, on Digi24, that he was the one who approved the three-day permit in the case of Atas Abdullah, the Turk sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison for killing a policeman and who did not return to Rahova Penitentiary on Monday.

The Turkish businessman, known as the “king of lamps from Romania”, fled to Turkey.

Burcu explained that permission to leave the penitentiary is granted upon the proposal of persons who work directly with detainees: head of work points, educator, psychologist or social worker.

“These are analyzed and approved by the head of the section where the prisoner is assigned and then by a commission made up of the director of the prison and the two deputy directors. For permits longer than one day, they are also analyzed at the level of the National Administration of Penitentiaries and approved by the general director,” said Bogdan Burcu.

Earlier, prison representatives told HotNews that the Turkish citizen had received 24 permits and 72 rewards in recent years.

The head of the ANP, when asked who specifically approved the last three-day permit, answered: “the undersigned”.

Asked if he had any negative opinion from the commissions on the approval circuit, in the context in which, on Monday evening, the National Penitentiary Police Union (SNPP) claimed that it would have approved the permit “despite the negative opinions of the subordinate specialized structures, with one exception”, the head of the ANP replied that it was “possible that there was a negative opinion”.

“As far as I can remember, there are several people who approve these permits to leave the penitentiary, and there may have been a negative opinion from one of the people on the approval circuit,” said Bogdan Burcu.

“We want to return better people to society”

Asked why he decided to grant a three-day leave to a prisoner sentenced to almost 23 years in prison, Burcu cited the European recommendations and the objectives of the penitentiary system.

“We are guided by the standards of the CPT and the recommendations of the ECHR, which recommend that, even in the case of long sentences, there should be progressive measures of contact with the community, including by granting permission to leave the penitentiary,” the head of the ANP also said.

“Now, of course, the administration could refuse to grant exit permits for any of the detainees. There would be no risk, there would be no problem. But, tomorrow, as an administration, we want to return to society better people than they were at the time of conviction. And for this, all the measures that the ANP seeks to take, through colleagues and specialists in the system, is for us to return to society detainees who no longer commit crimes, even criminals”, emphasized Burcu.

What kind of prisoner was Atas Abdullah

Regarding the escaped convict, the head of the ANP specified that he was in the penitentiary system since 2015 and had, for almost ten years, a positive conduct.

“The prisoner had a consistently positive behavior, he was constantly rewarded for his involvement in productive, educational and social reintegration activities, he participated in community outings and therapeutic activities,” said Bogdan Burcu.

Bogdan Burcu also stated that at the moment there are checks ordered by the Minister of Justice in this case, in order to establish the circumstances in which this permission was given.

“I asked the minister (n. ed. Radu Marinescu), considering that the approval of the permission was given at the level of the director general, to order your control body of the Ministry of Justice to carry out some checks in this case. If there are deficiencies, surely the guilty persons will answer, including as far as I'm concerned, if necessary. Otherwise, the detainees are responsible during the period of the permission to leave the penitentiary to comply with the rules established for them”, he said Burcu.