Local government

Prosecutors with the Attorney General's Office on Monday decided to wear armbands in protest over the way the government passed an emergency ordinance amending the justice legislation.

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.

The District Prosecutor's Office will be looking into potential financial wrongdoings by Plovdiv Municipality, said the press office of the Appellate Prosecutor's Office - Plovdiv.

A judicial council on Friday rejected the appeal against a travel ban slapped on one of the former protected witnesses in a kickbacks investigation involving Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

Senate Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Tuesday that it is in the hands of the Upper House plenary to decide whether he should be prosecuted or not, while the prosecutors can only look into the legality, not the timeliness of the Government's decisions.

The union of judges and prosecutors on Friday called for changes to what they described as a "draconian law" aimed at prosecuting criminals who embezzle state funds, following the 10-year jail sentence imposed on a cleaner for forging an elementary school certificate to get her job.

Supreme Court Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou on Tuesday described the unknown attackers who planted a bomb outside the house of a deputy prosecutor as "people who move in the dark," saying they have no "democratic culture."

The Senate President, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, indirectly received, 2007 to 2008, when he was prime minister, material benefits worth US about 800,000 dollars from an Austrian company, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) shows in a reply sent to AGERPRES.

The Greek Union of Judges and Prosecutors hit back on Friday at suggestions the court system is to blame for delays in the ongoing trial of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party.

In a statement, the union cited a shortage of space.

"The court meets 10 times a month because there is no special room to conduct the procedure on a more regular basis," it said.

Cooperation on war crimes cases between prosecutors’ offices in former Yugoslav countries happens rarely despite agreements between the states, said participants at a major regional conference organised by BIRN.