Organization calls for resignation of Police spokesman after he accused Recorder of 'destabilizing state institutions'
The “A Patra Putere” alliance, which brings together several NGOs for the rights of journalists and the rights of citizens to correct information, claims that the reaction of the spokesperson of the Romanian Police, Georgian Drăgan, to the Recorder documentary about the police is “a form of subpoena” to the Recorder editorial office. The organization demands the dismissal of Drăgan.
“The “Fourth Power” Alliance publicly condemns the attacks and threats of the spokesperson of the Romanian Police, Quaestor Georgian Drăgan, to the Recorder editorial office.
In an official reaction, speaking on behalf of the institution he represents, he accused the Recorder journalists that, by publishing the “Enslaved Police” investigation, they are guilty of “destabilizing state institutions”, “affecting the safety of citizens” and exceeding the “legal framework regarding free information”, without indicating concrete facts, information or violations of the law that support such claims”, says a Facebook post of the “Fourth Power” Alliance.
It considers that the statements of the quaestor Georgian Drăgan seriously affect the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press.
“Associating a journalistic investigation with the idea of ”destabilizing” some state institutions is a form of intimidation towards the work of the Recorder editorial office, mainly, and towards all journalists who investigate the activities of public institutions”, argues the organization.
Invoking the lack of public responsibility of the spokesperson of an essential institution, the Alliance demands the resignation or dismissal of quaestor Georgian Drăgan.
The reaction of the Romanian Police after the publication of the investigation
Following the Recorder's publication of the documentary “Enslaved Police”, the Quaestor Georgian Drăgan stated that the Recorder's journalists launched “unfounded accusations, without any factual basis”.
“The allegations in this material are based solely on the opinions of union leaders, which are maliciously presented as factually proven data, which they are not! I want to be clear: we have no problem with this topic being discussed, we are fully open to communicating with the media and have done so, including with reporters from the Recorder. What is not OK is the presentation of erroneous, truncated, altered or out of context data such as and opinions of some people, opinions that are not supported by evidence”, Georgian Drăgan said, quoted by News.ro.
Referring to the allegation that the empowerment of management positions is a practice in the Romanian Police, the quaestor Georgian Drăgan claimed that “the official data, provided including to the journalists from the Recorder, clearly contradict this thesis”.
“The Recorder publication asked the IGPR, as well as the territorial police units, for data on the authorizations at the level of our institution. I make it clear that both the IGPR and all the territorial structures have provided clear, definite and indubitable data on the subject. Also, on May 19, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to the Recorder's request, addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs, offered a response, with the request to be taken over This did not happen, but on the contrary, in the material published today, only truncated information was taken, which would help the goal pursued by publishing this material, namely the destabilization of the institutions of the Romanian state”, stated the IGPR representative.
The practice of proxies, mechanism of political control
Recorder published an investigation on Thursday about the administrative mechanisms by which the Romanian Police is kept under political control through the system of “powers of attorney”. The names of former interior ministers appear in the documentary. One of them recognizes the pressures of the PSD and other parties for the appointment of the heads of inspectorates.
The data obtained by the Recorder from the county inspectorates reveal an alarming reality, the publication writes: more than 600 management positions in the Romanian Police are currently filled by proxy, bypassing the competence criteria. That is, the clear procedure to occupy these positions, the organization of competitions.
“The authorizations are an attack on national security. It is a disease, because we are no longer talking about an acute issue, we are talking about a chronic issue,” Cosmin Andreică, president of the European Police Union “Europol”, says in the documentary.
The phenomenon blocks the reform of the institution from the top, given that almost a third of the chief inspectors in the country and more than half of their deputies lead without having held a competition.
