The Superior Council of the Magistracy’s (CSM) Disciplinary Section for Prosecutors rejected on Thursday the Judicial Inspection’s request to suspend Maria Antoaneta Piturca, the prosecutor who manhandled an 8-year-old girl while taking her away from her foster carer in Baia de Arama. The decision is not open to appeal.
“Rejects the request lodged by the Judicial Inspection on the basis of Article 52, Paragraph (1), of Law no.317/2004, republished, regarding the suspension of Mrs Piturca Maria Antoaneta, chief of the criminal prosecution section of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Craiova Court of Appeals. Not open to appeal,” reads the decision adopted by the Superior Council of the Magistracy’s Disciplinary Section for Prosecutors.
Maria Antoaneta Piturca had taken part in hearings and the members of the Section for Prosecutors had postponed their decision for Thursday.
The Judicial Inspection announced, on July 2, that Maria Piturca is under disciplinary investigation. Also on July 2, the Judicial Inspection’s Directorate for Prosecutors forwarded to the CSM’s Disciplinary Section for Prosecutors the proposal to have the prosecutor suspended from office until the disciplinary procedure is finalised.
The Judicial Inspection’s Directorate for Prosecutors ordered the start of a disciplinary investigation against prosecutor Maria Antoaneta Piturca, from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Craiova Court of Appeals, under the aspect of disciplinary offences stipulated by Article 99, Paragraphs a) and t), Subparagraph I, of law no.303/2004 on the statute of judges and prosecutors, republished, with subsequent amendments, holding that there are clues pointing to the perpetration of disciplinary offences that consist of “behaviour that harms the honour, professional probity or prestige of the judicial system, displayed while exercising one’s job duties or while off duty,” and “exercising one’s office with ill faith or grave negligence, if the guilty act does not meet the elements of an offence.”
On June 21, eight-year-old Sorina was taken away by authorities from the home of her foster carer, after she was adopted by a Romanian family living in the U.S. The moment was filmed by persons close to the foster family and the videos were posted on Facebook. The footage shows how the desperate child cries, clings to her foster carer’s clothes and shouts “mommy I don’t want to go,” while a prosecutor manhandles her, trying to get her to a car in order to take her to her adoptive parents.
The event triggered a wave of negative reactions, hundreds of persons demanding that the situation be clarified and the way the adoption took place be verified.
The house search warrant had been issued to collect evidence concerning several offences, including unlawful deprivation of freedom, ill treatment of an underage child, failure to observe custody measures, and fraud, not to take Sorina away from the home of her foster carer.
Prosecutor General’s request for adoption to be revised, rejected by Court of Appeals
The Craiova Court of Appeals rejected, on Thursday, Prosecutor General Bogdan Licu’s request to revise the court ruling approving the adoption of Sorina, the eight-year old girl who was brutally taken away from the home of her foster carer in Baia de Arama.
On Wednesday, the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) rejected, in a final ruling, Licu’s request to have the trial regarding the revision of Sorina’s adoption transferred from the Craiova Court of Appeals.
Last Friday, Craiova Court of Appeals magistrates rejected the request to suspend the enforcement of the court ruling that approved that Sorina is to be adopted by a Romanian couple living in the U.S.
Also on Wednesday, the Olt Court declined its competence to the Slatina Court in what concerns allowing Sorina to leave the country.
Prosecutor General Bogdan Licu had issued a presidential ordinance request demanding that Sorina be prevented from leaving Romania. Likewise, Licu had lodged a request for the revision of the sentence that approved the adoption and had asked that the enforcement of the sentence be suspended.
Authorities took Sorina away from the home of her foster carer in Mehedinti, after she was adopted by a Romanian family in the U.S.
The moment was filmed by persons close to the foster family and the videos were posted on Facebook. The footage shows how the desperate child cries, clings to her foster carer’s clothes and shouts “mommy I don’t want to go,” while a prosecutor manhandles her, trying to get her to a car in order to take her to her adoptive parents.
