Justice Minister Alina Gorgiou said on B1 TV on Sunday that she will meet with her Italian counterpart this month about the fugitives, given that the high-profile convicts have found refuge in Italy, which refuses to extradite them. Regarding detention conditions cited by fugitives in foreign courts, Gorgiu said that in 32 years in Romania, no government has managed to build a new penitentiary.

• “I know there is frustration at the public level. Since I took office, less than three months have passed, I am being asked on the Internet and on the street: “Mrs. Minister, when will we bring them home?”.
• It is difficult to give an answer because every fugitive, more or less famous, follows certain procedures. But yes, justice cannot be considered served if the convict does not serve his sentence.
• From the beginning of 2023 to the beginning of August, almost 600 refugees were returned to the country by the Romanian state.
• The most are from Great Britain, Spain, 2nd place and, I will surprise you, Italy – 77 fugitives that we managed to return to the country in this short time. Some have sonorous names, and that attracts attention,” said the Minister of Justice on B1 TV.

The main reason cited by fugitives before foreign courts is that they are subjected to such degrading treatment and torture in Romanian penitentiary institutions.

• “It is of great concern to the Ministry of Justice that we have been convicted by the ECtHR in hundreds of cases on this basis (…) We are concerned about the conditions in penitentiary institutions.
• By the end of the year, we will have 1,200 new places in the penitentiary system.
• For 33 years, no government has been able to build a single new prison. We are building new pavilions, renovating places of detention… We have always faced a financial barrier, apparently.
• We have two penitentiaries that are currently in public procedure, in Buzău and Ilfov, funds from the Romanian state, we are also trying to get loans from outside. We are a little out of order with the law regarding the public procurement procedure,” Alina Gorgiu also said.

She announced that an informal conference of justice ministers from EU member states will be held on September 10-11, and she will have a bilateral meeting with the Italian justice minister to discuss “in depth” the bilateral relationship, not only on the issue of refugees, but also on alternative methods conflict resolution: “Mediation works very well for them, we failed.”

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