BUCHAREST, Romania: Romania’s most powerful politician was convicted Thursday of official misconduct and sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison, a verdict cautiously cheered by anti-government protesters who have spent months decrying high-level corruption in the European country.
After hours of deliberation, the High Court of Cassation and Justice found Social Democratic Party leader Liviu Dragnea guilty of intervening to keep two party members on the payroll of a public family welfare agency. Dragnea, who denied wrongdoing, can appeal.
As leader of Romania’s ruling party leader, Dragnea normally would be the country’s prime minister. A 2016 conviction for vote-rigging barred him from the post.
Dragnea selected ally Viorica Dancila to be prime minister in January. Dancila criticized the court ruling and said fellow politicians calling for Dragnea to step down as parliament speaker — the third most senior position in government — were acting “unconstitutionally.”
After the ruling was handed down, thousands of Romanians gathered in Bucharest and other cities to oppose criminal justice changes lawmakers made this week. Critics think the changes will make it harder to prosecute and punish officials for corruption.
“It’s a small victory,” said Maria Belizarie, a legal consultant who was among the flag-waving crowd in Victory Square. “I respect the magistrates who today respected the robes they wear and the oath they took.”
Prosecutors said Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep two women employed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency. The women admitted working for the party while they received salaries from the public agency.
The Social Democrats will meet Friday to discuss the party’s future following its leader’s conviction.
Romania’s most powerful politician convicted of misconduct
Romania’s most powerful politician convicted of misconduct
- As leader of Romania’s ruling party leader, Dragnea normally would be the country’s prime minister. A 2016 conviction for vote-rigging barred him from the post
- Prosecutors said Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep two women employed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency
Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver.
The U-Haul truck, with its side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The police department confirmed its officers were on the scene but didn’t immediately say if anyone was arrested.
Two people were evaluated by paramedics and both declined treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Several hundred people had gathered Sunday afternoon in the Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian theocracy. The LA police department eventually issued a dispersal order, and by 5 p.m. only about a hundred protesters were still at the scene, ABC7 reported.
Activists say a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed more than 530 people. Protesters flooded the streets in Iran’s capital of Tehran and its second-largest city again Sunday.
