The spokesperson of the Romanian Police returns after the Recorder documentary. He wants to clarify that he saw the whole thing, but with headphones
After speaking about the “destabilization of state institutions” and “exceeding the legal framework of public information”, the quaestor Georgian Drăgan, the spokesperson of the Romanian Police, insists that he watched the entire Recorder documentary “Enslaved Police”, explaining that after the 24th minute he listened to it with headphones.
“Given the speculations in the public space, according to which “Georgian Drăgan watched only 24 minutes of the Recorder material” for the correct information of the public opinion, I bring the following clarifications: The information is incomplete and does not correctly reflect the explanations provided by me, during the press conference”, stated Georgian Drăgan, in a press release sent by the IGPR.
Georgian Drăgan insisted that the difference is the way he watched the last part of the documentary, namely that he listened with headphones.
“As I publicly stated, I watched the Recorder audio-video journalistic material, up to minute 24, and from minute 25 to minute 49, I continued to watch its content, in audio format, with headphones. As a result, I went through the journalistic material in its entirety, the difference consisting exclusively in the way the content was played, in the second part of the documentary, and not in the lack of watching it,” the IGPR spokesperson also claimed.
The accusations made by the “voice of the IGPR” after the Recorder documentary
The Romanian Police, through the voice of the quaestor Georgian Drăgan, rejected, in a press conference organized on May 21, the information published by the Recorder in a documentary that talked about the system of authorizations for management positions in the Romanian Police.
Georgian Drăgan stated that Recorder journalists launched “unfounded accusations, without any factual basis”.
Drăgan also spoke about a “modus operandi” that “exceeds the legal framework from our point of view regarding the free information of citizens” and “implicitly, ensuring the security of citizens is affected”.
During the press conference, Georgian Drăgan accused the fact that the Recorder did not fully publish the point of view of the Ministry of the Interior. However, it was contradicted with evidence by the journalist Alex Nedea, the author of the investigation.
Drăgan said that he saw the entire investigation, after which he admitted that he only saw 25 minutes of the 49 minutes of the material and said that he listened to the rest.
“Until minutes 20-24 I saw it with my own eyes, the material was not the answer, after that minute I just listened because I also had to prepare the material for the press conference, that it wasn't just you that I had to discuss here. You noticed that the other colleagues from the press also had certain questions that I had to answer and I can't hold a press conference without coming up with definite data to present to the public, because not you must receive them. After that I listened to that material on headphones, and I did not hear that you or any other colleague from the installation had read the response of the IGPR or the response of the Ministry of the Interior,” said Georgian Drăgan, in the conference.
In response, Alex Nedea said that “it is presented on the screen in its entirety, as we were asked.”
