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Members of the European Parliament
sound the alarm upon the abuses of the Romanian Justice
in Gregorian Bivolaru's case.
Abuses...
Justice for all...
Declassified warrants...
MISA Yoga School organizes a protest
at the headquarters of SRI (Romanian Secret Service).
200 million euro spent for illegal prosecution of yogis
Obvious abuses committed by SRI against MISA Yoga School
through certain warrants that were declassified
and which show that, with no evidence whatsoever,
MISA had been declared an extremist organization.
For almost 8 years we have been subject to blatant abuses.
Justice! Justice!
You are an ordinary citizen.
You have a family. You go to work.
You are busy about 12 hours a day.
But still you manage to get some time for yourself.
You choose to practice yoga.
This should not bother anyone for it is your own private life.
Still it does.
Your phone calls are being tapped.
You risk to lose your job.
Your neighbours point their finger at you and gossip about you
because they have heard on TV that you might be a dangerous criminal.
You are labeled as a member of an extremist movement.
For the sole reason that you practise yoga
you have no right to a decent life.
For you, the intimacy and liberty ceased to exist.
Although you are actually innocent.
During the last 3 years,
44.000 phone lines have been tapped.
SRI and Prosecurors' Office
infrige individual freedom and personal security,
personal, family and intimate life...
SRI is "watching over us" and is tapping everything "for us".
So far, the only proof that SRI is closely watching the yoga pracitioners
was the declaration of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Ioan Rus,
who publicly admitted that the yogis from MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru
have been monitored and watched since at least 1995.
But now there is a real piece of evidence
of this abusive surveillance on political grounds.
In the trial in which
Gregorian Bivolaru has already been declared innocent by two courts,
the prosecutors who are guilty of serious abuses in MISA case
desperately brought forth some so-called "evidence".
Instead of proving the guilt of MISA mentor,
this "evidence" clearly proves
the continuity of 'political police' methods,
the abuses that the yogis have complained about for so many years,
and also the existence still today
of staff from Ceausescu's Security Service
in high positions within the Prosecutors' Office,
SRI or other institutions.
The Prosecutors' Office sent in the last day of the trial
the warrants issued on the grounds of National Security Law.
The so-called evidence
that the prosecutors had brought to the file in the last moment
in order to prevent the lawyers from studying and challenging them,
are actually two warrants issued by the Prosecutors' Office
supposingly used to tap phone calls
in Gregorian Bivolaru's case.
Even though both the defendant's lawyers
and the judges requested these warrants
ever since the beginning of the trial, years ago,
the prosecutors stubbornly refused to bring them in the file,
under the delirious pretext of being "state secrets"!
Few days before the final appearance in court,
out of a sudden the warrants are no more "state secrets"
therefore they are brought in the file by the Prosecutors' Office and SRI.
Warrant no. 923 issued on April 9th, 2003:
Authorizes the interception of communications of Gregorian Bivolaru,
the access in locations from Bucharest and other cities
in order to install, maintain and recover
technical devices to intercept communications,
and also to take and then put back any object or document,
to examine it, get any available information,
as well as to record, copy
and take excerpts by all means.
All actions mentioned in the warrant would be performed
with the support of the mobile phone operator.
Justice! Justice!
Sequence of judicial steps Correct sequence:
Penal prosecution - warrant of interception - phone tapping - charge.
The warrants issued by the Prosecutors' Office are illegal,
since the interception was made before the penal prosecution started.
Therefore, the warrants are part of the preliminary procedures
and they cannot be considered evidence.
The justification of the interception warrants, namely the national security,
is inconsistent with the crime
for which Gregorian Bivolaru was brought to the court.
Warrant - threat to national security Trial - common law crimes
The presence of these warrants and phone tappings
in a file dealing with common law offences
is a clear proof that the file was politicized.
The reason stated in these warrants, the same threat to "national security",
has no legal grounds, for they had beed issued
after the Prosecutors' Office had already decided twice
NOT to begin the criminal procedures in the investigations
of crimes related to national security.
Justice! Justice!
Their aim was to make it impossible
to have an effective defence,
violating the principle of balancing the opposite forces.
The reason the prosecutors didn't give to the law court
the interception warrants
brings out a truth which is not in their favour.
How could a law court, no matter which one,
give credit to illegally tapped phone calls
while it is not even known for sure to whom they belong.
These documents, considered until recently as "state secrets",
have been desperately casted into the game in the last day of the trial,
just because the prosecutors wanted to put pressure upon the law court,
thus unveiling the occult forces and interests behind the trial.
The SRI have made illegal interceptations
on grounds of national security,
but in fact it was a political order.
Everybody has the right to respect for private and family life,
his home and his correspondence.
Public authorities might interfere with this right
only to the extent this interference is regulated by law
and if this action is necessary in a democratic society
for national security, public security,
economic wellness of the country and other people's liberties.
In 2004, after 10 years of illegal interceptations,
"the biggest action of Romanian Police after 1990"
was unleashed against MISA.
Even though this action involved hundreds of prosecutors,
gendarms, policemen and SRI officers who spent substantial public funds,
it resulted in no evidence, no arrest,
and no charge, it was just a huge armed robbery.
This action affected over 100 yogis who have been robbed, seized,
abused, intimidated and interrogated by force,
under the pretext of being witnesses,
in order to force their testimonies against Gregorian Bivolaru.
We demand some explanations,
why was MISA declared an extremist association,
how could we get into this situation,
and which exactly is the political interference
into this action of SRI.
After a surveillance that had no limits,
absurdly justified by so-called extremist actions,
even though MISA has never been accused of extremist or violent action
not even in the mad mass-media campaigns,
the evidence for any illegal activities does not show up.
What do show up are the new and serious law violations
committed by the investigators and the authorities.
The abuses and injustices of Romanian Justice against Gregorian Bivolaru
have also been noticed by high officers from European institutions.
Over 50 Members of European Parliament
have recently signaled to the Romanian Prime Minister
the serious defficiencies and illegal actions
committed in the case of MISA mentor.
It was brought to our attention by private persons
and human rights organizations that
there might be some irregularities in the judicial procedures
in the case regarding Gregorian Bivolaru.
After eight years of trials and two court decisions
in favour of Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru,
we hereby express our concern,
following the information we have received about this case,
which indicate that unjust actions
may be taking place in this case
which is currently in the final stages
at The Supreme Court of Romania,
including pressure put upon the judges
with the purpose of influencing the outcome of the case.
We thank you for your cooperation
and we are convinced that justice will prevail.
The excerpt from the letter addressed
by the European commissioner Thomas Hammarberg
to the Romanian Minister of Justice is more than conclusive:
"I was informed that the investigation of the Gregorian Bivolaru case
has suffered severe deficiencies and abuses
because of private information being released to the press
by the investigators,
thereby severally breaching the rights of the defendants."
The Gregorian Bivolaru case means
40 years of serious abuses committed by the Romanian state,
40 years out of which 19 years during communist dictatorship,
plus another 21 years during a political regime
allegedly "free" and "democratic".
40 years during which, despite the political regime,
a man has suffered almost everything authorities had to "offer"
in terms of oppression and abuses,
from apparently banal judicial hassle
or administrative sanctions
to tortures of unthinkable cruelness in the basements of SRI.
The range of the procedures
that Romanian authorities "applied" on Gregorian Bivolaru
includes calumnies, intimidations, arrests, Stalinist type home searches,
mass-media propaganda going up to demonization and linchage,
death threats and attempts at life,
endless questioning, beatings and imprisonment on political grounds.
Why is Romanian Justice protecting some people
and persecuting others?
Recently, the persecutions by SRI and Romanian communist authorities
have been somehow admitted
through the irrevocable decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal
that agreed upon the political character of the convictions
suffered by Gregorian Bivolaru before the Revolution from 1989,
in 1977 and 1984,
and the political character of his confinement in 1989
in the Psychiatric Hospital of Poiana-Mare.
Justice!... Justice!...