Romanian Press Club to submit criminal complaint against President Basescu

The Romanian Press Club (CRP) will submit a criminal complaint against President Traian Basescu for insulting a journalist, CRP head Cristian Tudor Popescu announced on Tuesday. The moves comes after President Basescu called a journalist “stinky Gypsy” in an incident at a supermarket during the day of the referendum that had him return to power after a month of suspension.

The Club, which overviews media matters in Romania, published a press release today saying it fully supported the journalist in her case against Basescu. It also proposed that audiovisual media boycott the head of state for a day on Thursday, the day when he is expected to officially return to office.

The print media is to follow suit in a second day of boycott on Friday. Each type of media is expected not to publish or broadcast any information about Basescu these days.