The decision to open criminal investigations against the ex President had been reached in June 19, 2007. Military prosecutors had provided the case to the court in 2000, but in 2003 the Supreme Court returned it to the Prosecutor's Office, deciding that the inquiry was incomplete. At that time Ion Iliescu was not at stake in the case. But this year prosecutor Dan Voinea, in charge of the case, decided there had emerged new elements showing the ex President's involvement. According to General Dan Voinea, Ion Iliescu had been charged since 2005 for things committed after the arrival of the coal miners in Bucharest and that case is still in the Military Prosecutor's Office. The case with the decision now denied is still being handled by civil prosecutors, except for the part concerning Ion Iliescu, given the Constitutional Court's decision that military prosecutors may no longer investigate on civilians. (...) "An attempt to undergo no lawsuit" Sorin Iliesiu, a vice president of the Civic Alliance, comments the ex President is trying to escape Justice, by means of "judicial tricks": "It is Mr. Iliescu's desperate attempt to undergo no lawsuit. If he is innocent, he must come in front of the court and prove it." Justice is going bankrupt According to Social-Democrat senator Victor Ponta, there has been political interference in favor or disfavor of Ion Iliescu, in this very case, for the 17 years. He argues: "What Mrs. Kovesi did is the first legal act in this case, actually the denial of a wrong decision." The Social-Democrat opines Romanian Justice is going bankrupt because of the government, since the latest report by Transparency International places Romania on top of the most corrupted states list. "This is total bankruptcy and we don't know how we can settle this," he adds. (...)

Bogdan GALCA, Cristian ANDREI