PG Lazar after protocols with SRI ruled unconstitutional:Optimistic current prosecution documents will be deemed legal

Romania's Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar says that cases have always been built professionally, both in the trial and in the criminal prosecution stage, and is optimistic that the prosecution documents completed so far in the cases in the attention of the Public Prosecution Office will be kept as such.

In the context of the ruling handed down on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court, which found that the protocols between the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the Public Prosecution Office are unconstitutional, Lazar said that whenever criminal prosecution documents were found to not have been drawn up according to the law, they were considered illegal and discarded from use in the process.

"We will carefully follow the reasoning that will be given to the ruling. What I can assure you of is that the cases have always been built with particular care both in the criminal investigation, and in the judicial investigation phase, and whenever a case was referred to directions hearing we looked at the validity of the criminal prosecution documents. With or without a protocol, when a judge finds that a criminal prosecution document was not done in compliance with the law, he voids it, and nobody wants to work in vain," Augustin Lazar explained.

Asked if the Constitutional Court ruling could affect the "heavy" cases, Lazar reminded that all evidence obtained illegally is suppressed, but said that he has not seen such acts so far.

''I haven't seen such documents so far because no one wants to build cases that end up compromising him as a professional. And I am optimistic that as the legality of criminal prosecution acts in the cases under investigation is being verified, the documents will be considered legal, because in all the analyses we make with our colleagues we place great emphasis on the quality of the criminal prosecution. It is a priority of the Public Prosecution Office," Augustin Lazar said at the headquarters of the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM). AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalin Lupasteanu, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)