AG Lazar denies any employment ties to late Securitate political police

Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar said on Monday he is neither a commissioned, nor a non-commissioned officer or informer of the late Securitate political police or any other secret service. He told a news conference that he wanted to make a series of remarks out of respect to his colleagues and to truth, a value he said has always guided his life and professional activity. Lazar argued that he is not nervous about any verification to be carried out in the National Council for the Study of Securitatea Files (CNSAS) archives. "Over the past few days, some news organisations have faulted me of facts that I have not done, labelled me so as to strip me of credibility as a person, a magistrate, as a Romanian. This is the first time in my life when something like this happens to me, and that is surprising even to a highly versed prosecutor with a long career. That is why I want to take this opportunity to say: I am neither a commissioned, nor a non-commissioned officer or informer of the late Securitate political police or any other secret service. I was drafted in the army and I am now a reservist military engineer of the Romanian Army," said Lazar. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)