Dozens of Romanian journalists and several NGOs signed an open letter on Wednesday backing an under-pressure media outlet whose investigation sparked nationwide anti-corruption protests.
The Recorder outlet’s two-hour documentary into corruption in the court system touched a nerve in the eastern European country, which ranks as one of the most graft-ridden in the EU, according to Transparency International’s corruption perception index.
Thousands have taken to the streets in rolling protests over the past week, but senior judicial officials have hit back and accused the outlet of being part of a “campaign to destabilise the judiciary”.
The open letter published on Wednesday condemned “repeated and aggressive attacks” on the work done by Recorder, especially coming from within the judiciary.
The documentary, which has racked up almost five million views on YouTube since it was published on Tuesday last week, alleged — among other things — that senior officials manipulated court processes to allow high-profile suspects to get away free.
Demonstrators are campaigning for the justice minister and other senior figures to be fired, and for new laws guaranteeing judicial independence.
President Nicusor Dan has promised to reform the system, telling a group of protesters in front of the Romanian Embassy in London on Tuesday: “We will have a debate, we will make changes.
“But I don’t want to do this in a week or 10 days. Let’s say in two months, so that it can be something stable.”
Recorder has been hit with pushback for its reporting, particularly from senior judicial officials.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal, one of those mentioned in the investigation, held a press conference last week to complain of “public incitement against the constitutional order”.
While a body representing senior judges — the Judges’ Section of the Superior Council of Magistracy — put out a statement referencing “the intensification of the campaign to destabilise the judiciary by undermining confidence in the justice system”.
However, hundreds of rank-and-file judges and prosecutors reacted differently, signing a public letter denouncing “deep and systemic dysfunctions” in the system.
Journalists and NGOs backed their colleagues on Wednesday, writing in the open letter that they “stand in solidarity with the Recorder editorial team and strongly condemn the attacks on their work, which we consider to be factually unfounded and, in some cases, motivated by obvious interests”.
