All newspapers on Monday read about continuing disputes about the government nominee for the Justice Minister seat, Senator Norica Nicolai, and the accusations put forward against her by President Basescu. PM Tariceanu refused to accept a discussion on the issue with the President even though the later insisted. And on media issues, Cristian Tudor Popescu, voted three times in a row as journalist of the year, annouced his resignation as editorial head of Romanian newspaper Gandul.
Norica Nicolai, the Liberal government's nominee for the Justice Ministry top seat, is accused by President Basescu of having imprisoned an innocent man in 1987. However, Cotidianul found two men, subject of a judicial error as they were bearing the same name.
Moreover, the paper reveals that eventually, only the guilty one served time in jail but he didn't get a chance to defend himself in a due trial. Back then, Nicolai was sanctioned with a warning.
The second accusation against the Norica Nicolai is that she illegally represented an American citizen in an adoption case, in 1991, Romania. According to the law, her deeds were illegal but Nicolai confessed that she did not know it.
As a direct consequence, Nicolai resigned as a prosecutor and undertook a job in the private sector.
Romania Libera adds that Norica Nicolai's professional file was set up by her superiors and not by the Communist secret police as she claimed.
Attorney at law Alexandru Pantea reveals for the newspaper that the judicial error committed in the case of the two men was intended by the Securitate police as the accused one was an informer.
He adds that, as a prosecutor back then, he witnessed some cases in which fellons were not arrested if they were giving away useful information.
According to Liberal sources, both the PM a
