CNSAS orders double-check of PG Augustin Lazar

The National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) decided on Thursday to recheck Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar as regards the quality of worker or collaborator of the communist Securitate political police, given the information and the new elements that were debated in the press. "Taking into account the public information regarding the prosecutor general of Romania, Augustin Lazar, CNSAS, on today's meeting, April 4, 2019, decided to double-check on him, starting from the new elements that were debated in the media," says a CNSAS press release. On the other hand, CNSAS informs that the statements made by Madalin Hodor, a member of the Council, regarding Augustin Lazar, do not represent the point of view of the institution, and he has no power of representation from CNSAS. The CNSAS decision comes after the Luju.ro publication suggested that Augustin Lazar would have been involved in the political police. Augustin Lazar was also accused of refusing the conditional release of an anti-communist dissident, Iulius Filip, when Lazar was a member of the Committee of Liberation Proposals with Aiud Penitentiary. Augustin Lazar rejected these accusations and made public certificates from the CNSAS stating that there are no documents showing his status as a worker or collaborator of the Communist Securitate. Madalin Hodor, a researcher at CNSAS, said that the statement according to which Augustin Lazar was a "torturer" is false, claiming that the dissident Iulius Filip was tortured by lieutenant colonel Lazar Gheorghe.AGERPRES(RO - author: Eusebi Manolache, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)