Amnesty International Report 1994 - Romania

Five men were imprisoned solely because of their homosexuality and were considered prisoners of conscience. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment by the police. Two Roma were killed in racial violence with the apparent acquiescence of the police. The authorities failed to clarify a "disappearance" case. In April a National Minority Council was established to advise the government and parliament on ethnic minorities. Representatives of the ethnic Hungarian minority left the council in September in protest over what they said was the government's failure to provide effective guarantees for minority rights. In July the Law on the Reorganization of the Judiciary came into force. The independence of the judiciary was compromised by this law's criteria for the appointment and grading of judges. Furthermore, under this law the Ministry of Justice and presidents of courts have excessive power potentially to interfere with the work of the judges. The new law also maintains the powerful role of prosecutors and retains military courts as a parallel system of justice. Complaints of police abuse can be made only to the military prosecutor and the Ministry of Interior. Romania acceded to the (First) Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in July. In October Romania became a member of the Council of Europe. In the same month it signed the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but had not yet ratified these instruments by the end of the year. In January Milorad Mutascu, aged 22, and Mirel Ciprian Cucu, aged 17, were arrested near Timisoara for private, consensual sexual relations. Mirel Ciprian Cucu was charged under Article 200, paragraph 1, of the Penal Code which prohibits sexual relations between people of the same sex at any age. He was released to await trial after two months' detention. Milorad Mutascu was charged under the same article, paragraph 2, for homosexual relations with a minor, although a heterosexual relationship between people of the same ages would be lawful. He was released in May pending trial. There was no evidence of coercion or exploitation in the relationship and both men were treated as adults in terms of police procedure and preventive detention. In June the Timisoara Court sentenced Mirel Ciprian Cucu and Milorad Mutascu to suspended sentences of one and two years' imprisonment respectively. In December information came to light that three more men were serving prison sentences solely because they had engaged in consensual homosexual relations. Marius Aitai, a 22-year-old prisoner in Gherla prison, had been sentenced in 1992 to two years and six months' imprisonment for having sexual relations with another prisoner. In two separate cases in 1993, Cosmin Hutanu, aged 21, had been sentenced to one year and two months' imprisonment, while Ovidiu Chetea, aged 20, had been sentenced to one year and six months' imprisonment. In February Viorel Baciu was reimprisoned in Boto ani following the decision of the Supreme Court of Romania to reject an extraordinary appeal. He had been arrested in 1988, tried for murder and rape and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. Allegedly, he had been prosecuted and convicted on false charges because of his father's religious beliefs. Information about the torture of Viorel Baciu and other detainees in Suceava came to light in 1991 (see Amnesty International Report 1992). In 1992 the General Prosecutor, considering the charges to be groundless and illegal, filed an extraordinary appeal and suspended the prison sentence. The Supreme Court rejected this appeal on the basis of Viorel Baciu's confession, although it had reportedly been obtained under torture. There were many reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, often in order to force a confession. In some cases victims who complained were later intimidated. In June Andrei Zanopol was beaten by two officers in front of his home in Galai and later in a police station. For five days after his arrest the local prosecutor refused him access to his lawyer. He received medical treatment from a doctor who reportedly refused to give him a certificate. Later Andrei Zanopol was released and charges of alleged bribe-taking were dropped. Costel Covalciuc was arrested in Dorohoi in June and sentenced to three months' imprisonment for threatening his wife with a knife. On the sixth day of his detention he died in suspicious circumstances. Witnesses who saw his body in the morgue before the autopsy said that his hands were smeared with blood and his body was covered in bruises. After an official investigation, the authorities said that Costel Covalciuc had not been ill-treated and that his death resulted from heart spasms, possibly induced by abstinence from alcohol. Information became available on a number of cases of homosexual men, or men suspected of being homosexual, who allegedly had been tortured or ill-treated by police in 1990 and 1992. Their actual or suspected sexual orientation appeared to have influenced such treatment. In one such case, Doru Marian Beldie, aged 19, had been arrested in June 1992 for allegedly forcing a minor to have homosexual relations. In the 17th District police station in Bucharest he had reportedly been beaten with truncheons on his hands and feet for several hours in order to force him to sign a confession. Subsequently, he was charged under Article 200, paragraph 2, of the Penal Code and sentenced to four years and six months' imprisonment. The number of investigations into police abuses which resulted in charges or convictions was extremely small. This atmosphere of impunity particularly encouraged further acts of racial violence against the Roma community. At the end of the year no one had yet been charged for the attack on the Roma in Bucharest in 1992 (see Amnesty International Report 1993). Until criminal proceedings are completed the victims of the attack cannot file for compensation. In September police officers failed to protect two Roma who were killed and some 170 Roma who were forced to abandon their homes during racial violence in the Transylvanian village of Hadareni. Two Roma brothers, Pardalian and Lucian Repa Lacatus, who were allegedly responsible for killing a Romanian during a fight, were arrested by police when they tried to escape from a burning house. Two armed police officers failed to protect them from a crowd of Romanians and ethnic Hungarians who beat and kicked them to death. A third Roma burned to death in the house. Some 45 police officers later failed to protect the Roma community of the village who were forced to flee as the crowd set alight another 12 houses and vandalized four more. Some of the Roma were later reportedly ill-treated and harassed by the police when they returned to collect their belongings. Four Roma families were reportedly threatened with death by other inhabitants if they returned to the village. In November residents of Hadareni threatened to attack the Roma community again if the village council's decision to expel 21 families was not carried out. No one had been charged for the killings, destruction of property or the alleged ill-treatment of Roma by the end of the year. Amnesty International repeatedly called for investigations into reports of torture and ill-treatment. The organization also repeatedly called for the abolition of Article 200, paragraph 1, of the Penal Code which allows for prosecution and imprisonment of adults engaging in consensual homosexual acts in private. In March Amnesty International called for a review of Viorel Baciu's case and for a full and impartial investigation into allegations of torture and ill-treatment by police in Suceava. In April Amnesty International called for the immediate release of Milorad Mutascu from prison. In May it published a report, Romania: Continuing violations of human rights. In September it urged President Ion Iliescu to ensure that the inquiry into the killing of Roma in Hadareni would be prompt, thorough and impartial. In November the organization urged him to take all necessary measures to protect the Roma from further acts of racial violence and to stop their forcible expulsion from Hadareni. In December Amnesty International called on the President to release the three men who had been imprisoned solely because they had engaged in consensual homosexual relations. The Ministry of Justice informed Amnesty International in January that its inquiry into the "disappearance" of Viorel Horia (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993) had concluded that he had not been detained following the events of 13 to 15 June 1990 and that the police had thoroughly investigated his whereabouts. Amnesty International pointed to errors in official records of people who were detained with Viorel Horia and to another statement from a witness who saw the boy in the military base. In April the government informed Amnesty International that the investigation into the deaths of Andrei Frumu anu and Aurica Crainiceanu (see Amnesty International Report 1993) would be completed in April or May. No one, however, had been charged in connection with their killing by the end of the year. Most government replies about reports of torture and ill-treatment stated that official investigations had not established any illegal use of force by law enforcement officers. However, in one case the authorities confirmed that three police officers had been charged with the ill-treatment of a man in Bors. Amnesty International asked the government for more information on the investigations, and particularly on the methods used.