Former Interior Minister Gabriel Opria was acquitted on Monday by a Bucharest court of manslaughter charges in connection with a 2015 road accident that killed police officer Bohdan Giginé.

• “On the basis of Art. 396 paragraphs (5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Rap. to art 16 para. (1) lit. a) (no – the offense does not exist) from the Code of Criminal Procedure acquits the defendant Oprea Gabriel for committing the crime of involuntary manslaughter (…)”, this is the decision of the Bucharest Court.

Regarding the civil side, the court dismissed as unfounded the civil claims filed by the policeman’s family members, respectively the civil parties Hygin Cornel-Reluc, Hygin Carmen and Chucha (formerly Hygin) Ioan-Raluc against Gabriel Oprea, and the civilly responsible parties are the Government of Romania, the Ministry of the Interior cases and the Ministry of Public Finance, as well as a civil suit filed by the Bucharest Police Headquarters against Oprea.

The court decided to lift the seizure imposed on Oprea’s assets.

Conditional imprisonment for the owner of the company that carried out work in the area of ​​the accident

Petre Mazilu, the administrator of the company General MPM Impex SRL, responsible for carrying out work on an underground gas plant that was not properly signaled on the street, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison with a suspended sentence for manslaughter, writes Agerpres. He must also perform unpaid work for the benefit of the community in the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Sector 5 or in the Bucharest Lakes, Parks and Recreation Authority for 100 working days.

In addition, General MPM Impex SRL was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of 330,000 lei for manslaughter.

The court ordered Petre Mazila and General MPM Impex SRL to pay the Gigine family material and moral damages in the total amount of over 350,000 euros.

The decision is not final.

The case of the accident in which the policeman Hygin was killed went between the courts for years

Gabriel Oprea was sued by DNA in May 2018, the case was referred by the prosecution to the High Court of Cassation and Justice more than two years ago, but it went through several courts for procedural reasons. It was only in July 2020 that the Court of Appeal in Bucharest finally ruled that the trial of former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea on charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the accident that killed police officer Bohdan Hygina could begin.

Gabriel Oprea was sent to court together with the administrator of the company that performed works on the road, as well as his firm.

What prosecutors say:

• “On the evening of October 20, 2015, police officer Hygine Bohdan-Cosmin, 28 years old, was involved in a traffic accident on one of the streets of Bucharest, as a result of which he suffered a cranial hemorrhage, resulting in a cranial and facial injury with a fractured skull. injuries causing death. At the time of the accident, the victim Hygine Bohdan-Kosmin was part of the unit accompanying Minister Oprea Gabriel, who was driving in front of the car in which the minister was moving. At the time of the accident, Minister Oprea Gabriel was moving to his house,” DNA reported.

According to DNA, the traffic accident that caused the death of policeman Hygin was the result of the non-compliance by Gabriel Oprea, Petre Mazila and the general of MPM Impex SRL “with the legislative provisions and measures provided for the performance of certain activities – the activity of escorting the minister by traffic police officers in the case of Oprea , respectively, the activity of carrying out some works on the roadway in the case of the company and its administrator”.

• “In particular, after assuming the position of Minister of the Interior in early 2014, the defendant Oprea Gabriel ordered — in violation of the provisions of the law on escorting high-ranking guests by the traffic police — his constant escort by the traffic police. device, and since June 2015 ordered that the traffic police motorcyclist be part of this device. Thus, the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Oprea Gabriel, at his own discretion, granted himself “rights” not provided for by the legislative framework, “rights”, the implementation of which involved putting some traffic police officers in a situation of increased risk and at the same time he ordered traffic police crews to move at high speed “, the prosecutor’s office reported.

According to prosecutors, Gabriel Oprea placed the traffic police officers conducting this side action in a constant situation of increased risk, forcing them to participate in an activity that had a high potential to cause an accident.

• “Regarding the defendants Mazil Petre and General MPM Impex SRL, it was found that they, in violation of the provisions of the law on the implementation of road signs, did not take measures to train workers in the correct method of making road signs related to the works. placed on the roadway and provided workers with hand-made road signs that do not meet safety standards, which led to the completely inappropriate installation of road signs related to the works carried out on Știrbei Vodă Street in Bucharest, in the area where the accident occurred. It follows from the evidence provided that the three defendants foresaw the possibility of a fatal road accident, but unreasonably assumed that such an outcome would not happen,” the prosecutors argued.

The investigators took into account the fact that at the time of the accident the victim was part of the apparatus accompanying the Minister of Internal Affairs, moving at a speed of 84 km/h in conditions of limited visibility due to darkness and rain, and the dynamics of the accident and the lack of braking maneuvers give grounds to conclude that that the policeman did not see any obstacles on the roadway.

• “According to these signs, the illegality and culpability of the actions that led to the victim’s death were verified: the victim’s stay as a motorcyclist in the official convoy; speed of movement and its unadaptability to weather conditions; faulty method of signaling existing obstacles on the roadway. Regarding the first two reasons – the victim’s stay as a motorcyclist in a service convoy, speed of movement and his inability to adapt to weather conditions – it turned out that these actions were deterministic and attributed to them. defendant Oprea Gabriel,” DNA explains.

According to prosecutors, Gabriel Oprea was the one who, using the conclusion of his position and at his own discretion, granted himself rights not provided for by the legal framework that regulates the escort of high-ranking guests, that the traffic was carried out at a very high speed, which contributed to the accident , which led to the death of the victim.

• “Regarding the third cause of the traffic accident, i.e. the faulty way of signaling about the existing obstacles on the road, it turned out that this cause of the traffic accident is the commercial company General MPM Impex SRL (which carried out work on the underground installation of natural gas on the road surface) and Mazilu Petre, administrator commercial company. It turned out that the road signs are not reflective and are located approximately 11.5 meters from the place of work. According to the law, road signs must be reflective. The responsibility for the provision and use of reflective signs and their placement in accordance with the regulatory provisions in this matter is entrusted to the administrator of the company General MPM Impex SRL, Mazila Petre,” DNA said.

“The death of Bohdan Hygin is an endless tragedy in which I am not to blame”

Shortly after the indictment, Gabriel Oprya said he would prove his innocence in court and that the death of police officer Bohdan Hygin was “an endless tragedy for which he cannot bear responsibility.”

• “After more than two and a half years after the terrible accident in which the policeman Bohdan Hygine died, it was decided to send the case in which I was falsely accused to court. The death of the policeman Bohdan Hygin is an endless tragedy, a huge loss for which I am not to blame! I say it today, as I say it every time. And I will prove my innocence in court,” the ex-vice prime minister wrote on Facebook at the time.

Oprea claimed he received no more than other interior secretaries:

• “On the evening of October 20, 2015, I came home from work, from a state institution. This was not a service convoy, but an escort vehicle, and I never demanded that the movements take place at a certain speed.
• Questions related to the expediency of the presence of a police officer on a motorcycle at this moment, the speed of movement of the device and other elements of the organization and planning of tasks should be addressed to the traffic police.
• In the case file, prosecutors showed that the works at the site of the accident were not properly marked.
• In addition, the file shows that the car I was in was traveling at a speed below the speed limit, which clearly proves that there was no urgency in this movement.’

Carmen Guiguine: “My child is innocent who died on the road flooded in a pool of blood after 12 hours of work”

In October 2017, after Gabriel Oprya told DNA that he was not guilty of the policeman’s death, Bohdan Hygina’s mother wrote on Facebook that her son, who died on a road full of water, in a pool of blood, was innocent 12 hours . into the app and after its removal request from the device has been denied.

• “I am innocent,” Mr. Gabriel Oprea repeats I don’t know how many times during the two years since my child stopped walking on earth.
• Innocent, Mr. Oprea, this is my child who died on a flooded road in a pool of blood after 12 hours of work; after an hour of waiting in a cell with wet clothes so you can go home safely,” wrote the police officer’s mother, Carmen Giguine.

Her son’s verbal request to remove it from the device was not accepted, she said.

• “It’s like if you put a blind man on a motorcycle and ask him to open the way for you.
• The helmet was faulty, the program was at 12 o’clock, his verbal request to take off the device was not accepted, and there was no question of a “service column”. That’s right, the potholes aren’t marked… but my kid is FINE there, he wasn’t out for a walk!” said Carmen Guiguine.