Thirteen public organizations, including ActiveWatch, Media Investigations Center and APADOR-CH, are responding to the case of activist Angi Sherban, who was detained by the police on Sunday and taken to the station. NGOs say that freedom of speech and the right to organize and participate in peaceful protests are increasingly affected by the actions of law enforcement agencies in Romania.

• “Yesterday, January 14, 2024, law enforcement officers took the activist Angi Sherban to the police station after a post she published on Facebook the same day, in which she criticized the forceful intervention of state authorities in carriers. ‘ protest. Angi Sherban was detained by law enforcement at an address different from the one listed on her identity documents, which is also worrying as it raises questions about how she was found by police and whether he was already under surveillance.
• This action by the Romanian police, in which a person was arrested with a warrant at an address other than her home, taken to a police station and physically searched after posting on a social network, is a cruel form of intimidation and humiliation. of citizens expressing critical views on the institutions of power, and thus a serious attack on democracy. These actions create a hostile climate designed to prevent citizens from exercising their right to participate in public assembly and their right to free expression, including criticism.
• According to the official statement of the General Directorate of Police of the Municipality of Bucharest, the operation of collection and transportation to the station was carried out on the basis of a warrant issued by the Prosecutor’s Office at the District Court 5. The fact that some prosecutors satisfied the request of the law enforcement authorities, the citizen was the subject of an arrest warrant, and then searched without charging him with any criminal act to which the search is relevant is of particular concern for the rule of law in Romania. In this case, the judiciary acted as a tool of law enforcement agencies, acting as an executor of the police order, and not as a guarantor of compliance with individual rights and the law,” the joint press release of public organizations states.

They believe that the opinion expressed by Angi Şerban on the social network is within the limits of freedom of expression and does not contain enough elements to be qualified as public incitement to commit a crime, being “legitimate criticism of the public and disproportionate actions of the law.” law enforcement during farmers’ and transporters’ protests”: “Angi Sherban has signaled and criticized, with legitimate concern, the presence of firearms in the equipment of law enforcement forces present at these protests.”

• “We draw the attention of the ruling parties, PSD and PNL, that establishing a regime of fear is a strategy that is against human rights. Such a strategy is completely unacceptable in relation to European values ​​and can increase the level of dissatisfaction of Romanian citizens.
• Social problems in Romania cannot be solved by opening criminal cases and taking people exercising their right to free expression to the police station. In an election year, the main concern of politicians should be direct communication with citizens, and not throwing over basic rights. Democracy can be guaranteed and protected only if citizens and their rights are respected,” 13 signatory organizations also state.

They ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check the way the action against Angi Sherban was conducted and to make public the conclusions of this analysis, and the judicial inspectorate to check the way in which the warrant for the activist’s arrest was issued and to make public this analysis.

We ask the PSD and PNL leaders to distance themselves from the offensive actions of the police and the prosecutor’s office and unequivocally express their commitment to democratic values ​​and respect for constitutional rights.

NGO signatories:

• ActiveWatch, Media Investigation Center, Spiritual Militia, Respiro Human Rights Research Center Association, Technology and Internet Association – ApTI
• CeRe: Resource Center for Public Participation, Rădăuțiul Civil Association, Mediawise Society, CIVICA Association
• Center for Independent Journalism, Center for Public Innovation, APADOR-CH, Greenpeace Romania.

We remind you that a day ago the activist Angi Şerban from Corupția Ucide was detained by the police after she asked on Facebook why a man “stands with a rifle among the protesters” and “if in a democratic state the police come to a peaceful protest with a gun, is it not legal, that people also go out with cocktails?”.

Says activist Angi Sherban

In a message posted on her Facebook page on Monday, she was detained for political reasons after she “dared in a democracy to ask a legitimate question about a police officer who threatened peaceful protesters with a gun.”