A 15-year-old girl who reported to 112 that she was sexually assaulted by a teacher, publicly humiliated by the advisor to the head of the Vaslui County Council. The victim, accused of “making students laugh”

The prosecutors in Vaslui requested the preventive arrest of a teacher, former school inspector, accused of sexually assaulting a 9th grade student. An adviser to the president of the Vaslui County Council, responsible for public communication, intervened on social networks, where he defended the teacher and urged people to go to the school to inquire about the victim's morality. In a reaction to HotNews, Andreea Bragă, manager at the Filia Center, draws attention to the phenomenon of victim blaming.

• Contacted by HotNews, councilor David Ionuț Popa did not answer the phone, while the president of CJ Vaslui, Ciprian Trifan, did not want to comment.

The teacher, investigated under judicial control for sexual assault

The Prosecutor's Office of the Vaslui District Court launched an investigation last week after a 9th grade student of a high school in the city called 112 and complained that a teacher had touched her in the intimate areas, right in the school hallway. The 15-year-old student recently transferred to the high school where the incident took place.

The police were sent to the scene, and following the investigations, the teacher, a former school inspector, was detained for 24 hours on the charge of sexual assault. The teacher's aggression was captured by the high school's surveillance cameras, judicial sources told HotNews.

The prosecutor's office requested the teacher's arrest, but the Vaslui District Court decided to place him under judicial control, with a series of obligations, including not teaching and not approaching the victim or the witnesses in the case.

The prosecutors contested the decision, the Vaslui Court will determine on Monday whether the teacher will be arrested or will remain under judicial control.

The case presented by the local press from Vaslui sparked extensive public debates online. Some of the people support the teacher, stating that he would have touched the student “parentally” and accuse the student of coming dressed inappropriately to school.

Other people, including former students, say that in the high school it was known for several years that the teacher would have behaved inappropriately towards the students, whom he addressed including through private messages.

The victim, blamed by an official of CJ Vaslui

Among those who have positioned themselves in the camp of supporters of the teacher accused of sexual assault is David Ionuț Popa, adviser responsible for public communication of the president of the Vaslui County Council.

In several comments on Facebook, Popa, a former student of the technological high school where the accused teacher teaches, defends him and says that he is “a model for Vasluian education, and especially Romanian” and that “there is no such thing as a teacher who would do such a thing to a student”.

The employee CJ Vaslui apostrophized the former students who told that in the past the respective teacher would have behaved inappropriately towards other students.

The counselor accuses the 15-year-old student of being caught “with three boys”, “in obscene situations”, in the bathroom of the high school from which she transferred. David Ionuț Popa asks people to go to the former high school where the student studied in order to take an interest in her morality, accusing her of not being “key to the church” and that “she made her classmates laugh.

Contacted by HotNews for a point of view, Councilor Popa did not answer the phone.

“I have no points of view, I only respond in writing based on Law 544/2001”, answered President Ciprian Trifan, to HotNews' request to comment on the intervention of the employee of the institution he leads.

Former Vaslui City Hall official, David Ionuț Popa was transferred to the Vaslui County Council three weeks ago, city hall sources told HotNews. On Facebook he presents himself as “cultural ambassador at the Cultural League for the Unity of Romanians Everywhere”.

Member of the PSD before being transferred to the Vaslui County Council, Popa made himself known in the public space through a series of laudatory comments addressed to the president of the CJ Vaslui, Ciprian Trifan, and by promoting the actions of the PSD local organization. Sources from the institution stated for HotNews that Popa coordinates several Facebook pages, through which he promotes the activity of president CJ Vaslui. “A legendary name”, “Visionary man of the county”, “Supporter of the beautiful in the county”, “Mărțișor of Vaslui county”, are some of the appreciations promoted online by councilor David Ionuț Popa to the president CJ Vaslui.

Manager Centrul Filia: “A systemic problem in Romania”

Blaming the victim is an extremely serious social phenomenon, which only discourages other potential victims, points out Andreea Bragă, manager of advocacy and research in the field of women's safety at the FILIA Center. When the stigmatization of the victim is done even by the representative of a public authority, the situation is all the more serious, she emphasizes.

“It is an attitude that only legitimizes any form of violence against women, girls, even more so sexual violence against minors, in a context where there are many prejudices about victims. We are talking about a situation of abuse that takes place in an educational unit, where there are power relations between teachers and students. All the more this behavior is abusive and has a very strong impact on the victim.

When the adults around, especially those in authority, come out publicly and judge the minor victim for her behavior, for the attitude she has as if it could be an excuse for sexual abuse, it is extremely serious. I would expect the school and the local authorities to take a stand and understand that the problem of sexual violence against girls is a systemic problem in Romania and that it takes a lot of courage from a girl to come out publicly and talk about something like this and face a person who has authority over her”, Andreea Bragă declared for HotNews.

She points out that authorities have a legal obligation to provide a safe space for education for all students, and citizens have a moral obligation to respect the safety of others and not encourage this kind of behavior.