Main Romanian body dealing with organised crime, DIICOT, says planned changes to criminal codes would block  the institution

DIICOT, the prosecutor’s office dealing with organised creime in Romania, says in a press release issued on Thursday that it is „surprised” and „concerned” about a series of planned changes to the criminal codes of the country, which are due to be discussed in the Parliament. It warned that the activity of DIICOT, which runs some 1,200 anti-drugs cases monthly, would be blocked from the very beginning, should the changes come into effect.

The DIICOT statement came as a special parliamentary commission, which has been pushing for a lot of changes to the laws regulating Romania’s judiciary, has decided to discuss a series of amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Previous changes to the laws of justice have sparked huge criticism and been described as an attempt to subdue the judiciary politically. The changes to the criminal codes have already been blasted by a series of judicial institutions and other bodies, including the national anti-corruption body, the DNA. President Iohannis also announced the planned changes are „too big and too speedy”.

DIICOT also said that a EU directive on improving the record regarding the presumption of innocence in member states, which is used as an argument for the planned changes to criminal codes, is already implemented in Romanian criminal law.