The judges of the Iași court held yesterday that the case in which they issued about 40 house search warrants last week in the name of the mayor and administrators of the Iași city hall should not be judged by them
Therefore, the file will go from the Tribunal to the Iași Court of Appeal today, the judges of the Tribunal understood the mistake when they began to analyze the requests for the revocation of the judicial control imposed on the defendant, three of which were analyzed yesterday.
“We want nothing more than respect for the rules of the criminal trial by all the protagonists of this scenario, built on totally wrong foundations, on the exaggerated idea that all public officials are already born guilty of something, of everything”, explained the lawyer Cătălin Boacnă.
UPDATE: This afternoon, the judges of the Court of Iași admitted the objection of lack of jurisdiction and sent the file to the Court of Appeal of Iași. Nine of the 12 requests for judicial review to be lifted were due for review today. In all these requests, it was argued that the court that should judge the complaints filed by the defendants is the Iași Court of Appeal and not the Tribunal. This change of jurisdiction was arranged taking into account the role of defense attorney of one of the defendants in the file.
Yesterday evening the judges of the Court of Iași analyzed the first instances of judicial review, advanced by three of the defendants in the file, regarding the release of the building permit for the Veranda restaurant, located above the building known as the Central Hall. In this context, the magistrates of the Iași court considered that they could not judge these requests, considering that one of the defendants in the file has the capacity of lawyer at the Iași bar.
Therefore, the court that should analyze the requests in this file is the Iași Court of Appeal. The former chief architect of Iași, Raluca Mocanu, is among the three people who filed a complaint against the judicial control order and which had a deadline yesterday. In his case, the question was judged yesterday.
“On the basis of disp. Art. 50 par. 1 cpp, with reference to art. 38 par. 1 lit. d cpp, declines the jurisdiction to rule on the appeal presented by the defendant Mocanu Raluca Andreea against the order of the Public Prosecutor of 12.14.2022 from file No. 138 D/P/2019 of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the High Court of Cassation and Justice – Directorate for Investigations into Organized Crime and Terrorism – Territorial Service of Iași, which ordered the adoption of judicial control against the defendant, in favor of the Court of Appeal Iași”, reads the decision pronounced yesterday evening by the magistrates of the Court of Iași.
Mayor Mihai Chirica can no longer sign planning documents
Therefore, the file must be registered with the Iași Court of Appeal, where the judges will have to analyze the requests made by all the defendants who have been placed under judicial control by the DIICOT Iași prosecutor. The file is very voluminous because the prosecutors have been collecting documents since 2019, it has over 150 volumes. No fewer than 12 people have been placed under judicial supervision in this case, including Mayor Mihai Chirica, the current or former chief architect, along with several directors or officials of the Iași City Hall.
Together with them, businessmen, land registers, surveyors, construction engineers, architects or even employees of the Directorate of Monuments have been placed under judicial control. The decision issued yesterday evening by the judges of the Court of Iași confirms the fact that in recent weeks the criminal investigation carried out by DIICOT has been verified by a judge who did not have the necessary competence to do so. Mainly, the discussion concerns the house search warrants issued on December 12, 2012, exactly the day the DNA prosecutors were carrying out searches at the Iași Town Hall in another case, also on urban planning issues.
Lawyer Cătălin Boacnă: “The warrants with which the judge authorized house searches are struck by absolute nullity”
The lawyer Cătălin Boacnă notified the fact that the court of Iași cannot judge the requests for judicial review, considering that one of the defendants he represents in the case has the capacity of lawyer at the Iași bar.
“I have stated since the DIICOT hearings that the Court of Iași is not the materially competent court to supervise the criminal investigation in this case, but the Court of Appeal of Iași, considering Ms. Oțeleanu’s ability as a lawyer. Even though she is currently a suspended solicitor, my view is that he operates under the same rules of procedure as a trainee solicitor.
I am delighted that my message has reached the court which is currently dealing with the requests for the waiver of judicial review. We want nothing more than respect for the criminal procedural rules by all the protagonists of this scenario built on totally wrong foundations, on the exaggerated idea that all public officials are already born guilty of something, of anything ..”, said l ‘lawyer Cătălin Boacnă, the defense lawyer of Cristina Oțeleanu, director of the legal department of the Iași town hall.
The lawyer also argues that including the approximately 40 house search warrants issued by the Iași court would be wrong.
“From my point of view, the warrants with which the judge authorized house searches are annulled with absolute nullity for the simple reason that they were issued by a materially incompetent court. The effects of this nullity will be discussed in another context”, explained the lawyer Cătălin Boacnă.
Today the judges of the Court will also analyze the rest of the requests for revocation of the judicial review. Most likely, the rest of the files will be sent to the Iași Court of Appeal.
