Top Judicial Watchdog Requests Supreme Court To Re-Select Five-Judge Panels

In Wednesday’s ruling, the section advised for selecting a total of six five-judge panels, three for criminal matters and the other for non-criminal, as opposed to the current four.

It also advises the court to resume all court cases which were postponed due to the suspension of the panels.

Romania’s Supreme Court decided on Monday that twenty-five court cases handled by its five-judge panels will have their hearing suspended until January 14, 2019, after the Bucharest Appeal Court invalidated its decision to re-select the panels early last month.

Among the high-profile trials judged by the panels are appeal cases involving current Lower Chamber Chairman Liviu Dragnea, Government General Secretary Toni Grebla and former Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

The Supreme Court initially decided last week to postpone all court cases which are handled by its five-judge panels until 2019, after the Bucharest Appeal Court suspended its decision to reselect them earlier in the month in accordance with a Constitutional Court ruling.

The court’s management board voted to postpone all court terms set for December 3 and 10 until January, when a new selection is due to take place.

All of the Supreme Court’s (ICCJ) five-judge panels were suspended on November 23, after the Bucharest Appeal Court admitted a challenge made by Social Democrat Party (PSD) chairman Liviu Dragnea against the procedure to re-draw them earlier in November.

The Supreme Court re-selected its five-judge panels through a random draw on November 9, following a Constitutional Court decision.

 

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.