The General Prosecutor’s Office headed by prosecutor Alex Florența on did not prosecute a single person for legionary or criminal apologia since March 30, 2023, while extremism was exploding in Romania, including from the rostrum of the Parliament. Only 22 years after the entry into effect of the emergency ordinance criminalizing legionnaireism, anti-Semitism, fascism, xenophobia, apologia for war criminals and other components of the extreme right, did the authorities start to apply the law banning these matters.
The Romanian state also criminalizes Holocaust denial or minimizing the Holocaust, as well as hate speech or discriminatory speech. During all this time, the complaints and alarm signals raised by the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, by diplomats or Jewish organizations have been ignored, while extremists commemorated Corneliu Zelea Codreanu annually in Tâncăbești with the legionary salute, and politicians themselves were inciting hatred, legionionism or recording serious anti-Semitic outbursts.
The Prosecutor General’s Office or the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police have not even issued a press release, nor did they make any statements or press conferences in which they at least expressed their concern about the phenomenon, warned that they are monitoring the extremist phenomenon in Romania or reminded that there is a law criminalizing such demonstrations.
No ex officio referrals and no indictments since Florența took the helm of the General Prosecutor’s Office
G4Media and ISE asked the Prosecutor General’s Office how many cases the institution has self-referred for violation of GEO 31/2002 since March 2023, since the PG has been headed by Alex Florența. No cases have been registered as a result of ex officio referrals for violation of GEO 31/2002, the prosecutor’s office’s press office replied:
- „At the level of the Criminal Prosecution Section of the PÎCCJ, no cases have been registered following ex officio referral of cases having as their object the violation of GEO 31/2002 on the prohibition of organizations and symbols of a fascist, racist or xenophobic nature and the promotion of the cult of persons guilty of crimes against peace and humanity,” the response to G4Media and ISE said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also said, at the request of G4Media and ISE, that in the last two years, since the institution has been headed by Prosecutor General Alex Florence, no cases have been prosecuted involving Legionnaire propaganda:
„In the years 2023 and 2024, at the level of the Criminal Prosecution Section of the PÎCCJ, there were no decisions not to refer or to prosecute cases concerning anti-Semitic and legionist propaganda and Holocaust denial,” the response to G4Media and ISE said.
A report by the Judicial Inspection of May 2021, which analyzed the situation of files on anti-Semitism, xenophobia, legionnaireism, hate speech, etc., between 2017-2020, records „a low share of files” targeting these crimes:
Out of 466 files identified at the level of all prosecutor’s offices in Romania in the 2017-2020 period, 320 had been resolved by 2021. Out of these 320 cases, 244 were closed, in 15 cases prosecutors dropped the prosecution and only 9 cases, i.e. less than 3%, were sent to trial by indictment (in another 24 cases prosecutors declined jurisdiction and another 28 cases were merged).
In the conclusions of the report, the Judicial Inspection asked for:
- The Prosecutor’s offices and courts to discuss the issues raised in the report in professional education sessions;
- To include in the six-monthly activity programs of the prosecutor’s offices objectives aimed at dealing with the category of offences covered by this inspection;
- The introduction in the decentralized education curriculum of topics addressing the issue of hate speech from the perspective of freedom of expression, as well as the use of the Internet as a means of disseminating potentially discriminatory, xenophobic materials and messages and fascist symbols and doctrines. Read the full report of the Judicial Inspection here.
Alarm signals ignored
During all this time, leaders of reputed Jewish organizations, the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania and the government’s adviser on extremism were publicly sounding the alarm or referring the matter to the public prosecutor’s office:
Jewish organizations
The Ministry of Justice was notified in April 2024 that the Prosecutor General’s Office was ignoring complaints made by the „Elie Wiesel” Institute regarding the violation of GEO 31/2002: Daniel Mariaschin (CEO of B’nai B’rith International, the oldest Jewish organization, founded in 1843) and Rabbi Andrew Baker (Director for International Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Committee) sent a letter to Minister Alina Gorghiu, in which they gave some concrete examples of the lack of reaction by Attorney General Alex Florence:
- „In April 2022, Vasile Zărnescu, a militant Holocaust denier, was sentenced to two years in prison (suspended). This sentence was then replaced with a written warning. Despite the warning, he resumed his public campaign of Holocaust denial. There was no response from the Attorney General.
- In June 2022, the Prosecutor General was asked to investigate the author, Cristian Troncota, for his article claiming that the Romanian authorities protected Jews during the Holocaust, thus denying the Holocaust in Romania. There has been no response from the Prosecutor General.
- Also, in June 2022, the Prosecutor General was asked to investigate the website incorectpolitic.com, which systematically denies the Holocaust and spreads anti-Semitic propaganda. This request was renewed in November 2023. There was no response from the Attorney General.
- In February 2023, the Attorney General was informed about the online platform https://radical-entorage.ro selling fascist and Iron Guard memorabilia. To date, no news of any investigation has been received.
- In March 2023, the Prosecutor General was informed about Marian Motocu who systematically posts racist, anti-Semitic and hateful messages online including Holocaust denial. To date, there has been no response.
- In August 2023, an additional request was sent to the Prosecutor General regarding the repeated YouTube postings of Alexandru Amititeloaie and Gica Manole denying the Holocaust in Romania and the pogrom in Iași and promoting the cult of Ion Antonescu. There has been no response from the Prosecutor General in this case either.”
Asked by G4Media and ISE what stage the above complaints are at and what measures prosecutors have ordered in each of the cases, the General Prosecutor’s Office said there are three registered complaints, without giving further details:
- „Following the checks carried out at the Criminal Prosecution Section of the PÎCCJ, three papers were identified, two of them registered in 2022 and forwarded for competent resolution to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Bucharest Sector 2 District Court and one registered in 2023,” PG representatives said.
It should be noted that Romania was sentenced at the ECHR, in April 2024, for the reversal of historical convictions for Holocaust-related crimes, following the retrial and acquittal in the 1990s of two officers, convicted in the 1950s for war crimes and crimes against humanity (the Zăicescu and Fălticineanu v. Romania case (application no. 42917/16).
Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, sent a letter to President Klaus Iohannis expressing his „concern for the well-being and development of the country” in the context of the December 8 presidential elections and reminding him that the anti-extremism law is not applied in Romania, which has led to the escalation of the legionary, anti-Semitic phenomenon and the propagation of apologia for war criminals:
Maraschin lists the following causes of the escalation of the extremist phenomenon: the glorification of Codreanu at Tâncăbești, the announcement by the BOR to canonize some legionaries and the failure of the justice system to prosecute and convict those who glorify legionnaireism and legionary figures in violation of the Romanian law.
- „All these things”, says the representative of B’nai B’rith International, „have created the favorable environment for the emergence and growth of candidates with assumed fascist views”.
It should be emphasized that the General Prosecutor’s Office headed by Gabriela Scutea (February 2020 – March 2023) closed the file opened against Călin Georgescu, after he publicly defended legionionnaireism and war criminals, calling Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and the military dictator Ion Antonescu „heroes” and „martyrs”. The public prosecutor’s office has stated that „the act is not provided for by criminal law or was not committed with the guilt required by law,” according to a response from the public prosecutor’s office to G4Media. Read the details here.
Ignoring the Elie Wiesel Institute
Alexandru Florian, president of the Elie Wiesel Institute, has publicly condemned the rise of extremism on countless occasions, sent press releases in which he sounded alarm bells or took a stand against concrete deviations and made dozens of complaints to the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the violation of GEO 31/2002:
- „About the passivity or dismay at the rapid filing of cases or their conclusion in the pre-trial chamber without trial, we have expressed ourselves publicly many times with the help of the press. The situations considered as serious or a risk for democracy are also found in the annual reports dedicated to Romania by the U.S. State Department in the chapter on rights and freedoms or religious freedom”, Alexandru Florian told G4Media.
Alexandru Florian has said on several occasions that „anti-Semitism and legionnaireism are on the rise”, and „through the classifications of the prosecution they realize that they have free rein for propaganda and action”.”We are dealing with a carelessness, a disinterest in building a society that we have been talking about for 30 years”, the president of the Elie Wiesel Institute also said.
Alexandru Florian also explained to G4Media and ISE that following the numerous complaints he has made over the years to the prosecutor’s office, in most of the cases where the Institute has challenged the dismissals in court, the judges have confirmed the dismissals by the prosecutors. G4Media has shown here how a judge motivates such a dismissal.
In an op-ed published on G4Media, Florian harshly criticized the non-enforcement of the anti-extremism law for 22 years and pointed out that the alarm signals raised by the institute since 2007 have gone unheeded:
- „(…) But this law has not fulfilled its preventive mission. It has now been activated to avoid disaster, the death of democracy. Some of the people or organizations under criminal investigation today have been mentioned publicly for years by the Elie Wiesel Institute. I published the first analysis of anti-Semitic manifestations and Holocaust denial messages in 2007. At that time we focused on how politicians, the media or opinion leaders express themselves. Criminal complaints have been made over the years. But the mentality prevailed that we were dealing with fringe demonstrations and, yes, extremists also have the right to express themselves, frustrations should not be kept in check. Yes, but these manifestations must NOT go beyond the law (…)”, Alexandru Florian wrote.
Moreover, the „Elie Wiesel” Institute has published, since 2019, annual monitoring reports on how anti-Semitism and hate speech spread in social media, as well as on the escalation of extremist phenomena in society. The reports are public, on the institute’s website, and can also be viewed below. Other analyses on monitoring the escalation of antisemitism and extremism in which the Institute has participated can be found here and here.
Warning signals from the government’s own adviser on extremism
Alexandru Muraru, the former government advisor on anti-Semitism, xenophobia and hate speech until 2023 (during the terms of Florin Cîțu and Nicolae Ciucă), has drawn attention to the extremist phenomenon and the outbursts in the public space on several occasions and has referred the matter to the prosecutor’s office:
- „Since 2021, since I took that position, I have made at least 10 referrals regarding acts of: anti-Semitism, extremism, the use of Nazi symbols, the promotion of hate speech and including acts of vandalism on monuments and memorial houses. All with names and surnames, with place and deed, with public information available to everyone and with the relevant documentation,” Alexandru Muraru told G4Media.
Muraru claims that none of these complaints „has concluded with the punishment of those who have visibly violated the law and defied the rule of law in the Romanian state”.
The former government advisor on xenophobia, anti-Semitism and hate speech also lists some examples of the sequences ignored by the authorities:
- „(… ) Former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu’s association with Hitler, brutal threats against actress Maia Morgenstein, intimidation of MPs and local elected representatives by AUR leaders, blacklisting of inconvenient journalists, praise of war criminals from the rostrum of the Parliament by AUR MPs, anti-Semitic meetings and the use of Nazi symbols at so-called protests organized by AUR members and sympathizers, the denialist speech of the Russophile Călin Georgescu, the extremist excesses of Diana Șoșoaca, the outrageous case of the bust of Mircea Vulcănescu, and the examples can go on. The signs were there, but we ignored them,” Muraru points out.
Alexandru Muraru argues that the wave of anti-Semitism and legionnaireism that has been particularly high this year is caused precisely by the failure to apply the law, which has encouraged the extremist phenomenon to escalate:
- „In the last two years, there have been no self-investigations at the General Prosecutor’s Office and no indictments. In 2022, prosecutors closed 96% of the solved cases related to anti-Semitic, legionist and war criminal promotion. In 2023, of the 82 cases that prosecutors had to solve, 25% were closed and the rest remained unsolved. This crass indifference is today giving way to the biggest wave of anti-Semitism, legionnaireism and even terrorism financed by foreign forces. All these phenomena that we are facing today are taking place with the complicity and carelessness of the institutions that have dealt with these problems superficially. The prosecutors who prosecuted such cases have by their inaction caused everything that is happening now”.
Muraru claims that during his term as adviser to the prime minister he even proposed the creation of a specialized office to investigate cases of extremism or associated with the phenomenon, but was confronted with „an inert and obtuse system”:
- „I proposed, at one point, to set up a specialized office to investigate these facts and was immediately met with resistance from an inert and obtuse system, while extremists, xenophobes, neo-leftists, laughed in our faces knowing that they would not pay for their deeds. After I left that position (created by me, the Romanian state did not have this tool until my appointment in January 2021), those who followed totally abandoned the mission of being a public whistleblower, of institutional engagement and alert. You will have to ask the Government and the members of Mr. Ciolacu’s team what they have been doing, who set them the task from the top of the Government to do nothing (it should be noted that Alexandru Muraru is a PNL deputy and president of the Iasi branch of the Liberals, editor’s note). It is a clear example of a non-functional institution, of a compromised mission”, he added.
Alexandru Muraru also reviews some examples of the slippages within AUR, the extremist party that set the tone for the escalation of the phenomenon and which brought extremism for the first time since 2000 to the Romanian Parliament, starting with the 2020 general elections. Other extremist factions broke away from AUR, SOS led by Diana Șoșoaca, POT led by Anamaria Gavrilă and Patrioții Români (PPR) led by- Mihai Lasca:
- „This is how we have allowed, at the beginning of this year, to have some extremist avatars such as the internationally wanted Ion Filimon who was leading from the shadows the organization AUR Vaslui, the double convicted Ioan Mihai Lasca, leader of the AUR branch in Bihor, the deputy Viorel Dumitru Focșa, on whose name a criminal case was opened for assaulting his wife right in front of his own daughter, the vice president of AUR Ilfov, Bogdan Crefelean, caught red-handed taking bribes for influence peddling from a party colleague, then the vice-president of the AUR youth organization tried to introduce bullets into the Romanian Parliament during an illegal protest, all culminating in the illegal acts committed in the open by the leader of AUR, George Simion”, concluded Alexandru Muraru, former government adviser for combating anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism, etc.
Legal frameworks and their application only after the security crisis that became known after the declassification of CSAT documents
In a public reaction after G4Media and ISE’s analysis of how the General Prosecutor’s Office has ignored the rise of extremism, the institution headed by Alex Florența said that the Prosecutor’s Office does not have enough people to handle the whole phenomenon, that the law is not good enough and that its prosecutors are constantly monitoring and seeking to apply the law to combat anti-Semitism, legionnaireism, xenophobia, etc. Only that these things have not been seen so far in concrete actions and cases brought to trial, the overwhelming majority of which have been closed.
However, after the outbreak of the security crisis that came to light after the declassification of the CSAT documents, police officers and prosecutors began to open files on the bandwagon for extremist demonstrations and legionist cults, for anti-Semitic slips identified on social networks, they have interviewed suspects, carried out searches and ordered preventive measures, judicial control or even detention. See examples here and here.
Until now, however, before the extremist phenomenon got out of control and propelled a pro-Russian candidate, surrounded by neo-leftists under investigation for allegedly provoking public disorder, into the presidential finals, things have not been like this and the authorities have buried the law by their lack of reaction.
- Alex Florin Florența (45) was appointed Prosecutor General of Romania on March 30, 2023, by President Klaus Iohannis. G4Media recorded in February 2023 the statements of some of Florența’s colleagues who said that „he knows the books, he’s hard-working, but not brilliant” and that he had managed the Timișoara DIICOT decently. Read more about the head of the High Court of Cassation and Justice here.
A G4Media and ISE analysis of 2022 exclusively showed how prosecutors closed 96% of the cases solved in 2022 involving anti-Semitic, legionist and war criminal promotion, and what’s more, one of the judges on whose bench such cases landed justified one of the prosecutors’ orders to close them. Read the full analysis here.
An RFI analysis from 2023 also shows that of the 82 cases the prosecutors had to solve, 25% were closed and the rest remained unsolved.
- Ordinance 31/2002 has been in force for two decades and, according to Article 5, punishes with imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years the promotion in public of the cult of persons who have committed genocide or war crimes, as well as the act of promoting in public fascist, legionary, racist or xenophobic ideas, concepts or doctrines. In 2022 only one case out of 26 was prosecuted.
Below are just three of the most recent examples of violations of GEO 31/2002 recorded in just nine months, with a major impact on social media, but for which prosecutors have not taken action:
- February 2024: Ex-AUR senator and current head of S.O.S. Romania Diana Șoșoaca invoked the legionary poet Radu Gyr in a communiqué
- July 2024: The Romanian Orthodox Church itself canonized three legionaries who were either ringleaders or apologists for Nazi Germany.
- October 2024: Diana Șoșoaca also made illegal legionary propaganda in a live broadcast on social media after the rejection of her presidential candidacy: „Long live the Legion and the Captain”.
G4Media and Info Sud-Est wrote extensively about how the authorities break the law, downplaying the role of war criminals in Romania in the 1940s and pointed out 16 situations where the law is blatantly broken.
As a result of G4Media and ISE, the names of Ion Antonescu Street in Constanța, Gheorghe Alexianu Street in Costinești and the name of the „Mircea Vulcănescu” High School in Bucharest’s 4th sector have been changed.
However, there are still many streets, busts, other monuments or public spaces that retain the names of war criminals. A few examples, in large urban centers: in Sector 1 of the capital there is a street named after Vulcănescu, in Sector 2 a memorial bust, and in Cluj Napoca, in 2017, Mayor Emil Boc himself withdrew from the agenda a project to change the name of Radu Gyr street, citing „civil society” that had asked him to do so.
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