Interior Minister Lucian Bode reacted on Tuesday by losing the first instance case against the University of Babes Bolyai (UBB) from Cluj-Napoca. Bode says the examination procedure was flawed, and that he has filed a new complaint against the decision of the Ethics Commission of Babes-Boliai University. The minister asked the court to suspend the decision by which the university self-reported in the case of suspected plagiarism of his doctoral dissertation.

“Just as others have decided to discredit me, I have the right to defend my dignity. My fight for the truth does not end there, it only begins. Thus, I filed a preliminary appeal against Decision no. 1/2023 of the Babesh-Bolyai University Ethics Commission with the aim of its complete cancellation, as well as further aspects outlined in this decision. I continue to consider this decision baseless, illegal and offensive,” Bode responded on his Facebook page.

The Minister of Internal Affairs argues his appeal:

• “No other decision can become censorship of the doctor’s commission after it was pronounced and after the approval of the CNATDCU, the Ethics Commission is another commission, in the sense of the decision of the Constitutional Court.
• The ethics committee has no legal authority to re-evaluate a PhD thesis whose owner is not a member of the university community, and I do not belong to that community.
• The examination procedure was carried out with violations. A self-reporting entity cannot be the same as one that decides on the merits of a self-referral, being clearly impartial. In addition, there is no analysis report in the sense of the law.
• Alleged deviations from the citation standards contained in Decision no. 1/2023 are illegal and baseless. A special review by the Ethics Committee referred to recently updated citation standards that were not in force at the time of the thesis defense, aspects confirmed by the viewpoint communicated by the Doctoral School.
• The steps will be continued because, despite all the pressure to be ‘burned at the stake’, it is just as NATURAL that the truth prevails and the law is respected in everyone’s case,” writes Bode.

Lucian Bode lost his first-instance trial on allegations of plagiarism in his case

It will be recalled that Lucian Bode asked the court to suspend the decision by which the university self-reported in the case of suspected plagiarism of his doctoral dissertation.

On Tuesday, the Salaj court rejected a lawsuit against Babes-Bolyaj University (UBB) in Cluj-Napoca, in which it sought to suspend a decision that the university had self-reported in a case of suspected plagiarism in its doctoral thesis.

• Lucian Bode loses at first instance the lawsuit against UBB, which admitted that he was a plagiarist / Bode talks about “pressure to burn at the stake”

We remind you that last week the Ethics Commission of the Babes Bolyai University announced that the doctoral thesis of the Minister of the Interior Lucian Bode has deep flaws and that “the vast majority of suspicions of plagiarism are confirmed”.

The ethics committee asks Bode to make corrections to the thesis and to withdraw the book published on the basis of the thesis. It also reports to the CNATDCU/National Research Ethics Board “for additional steps as required by law.”