Ten organizations that defend freedom of the press say they are shocked by the sudden closure of the investigation into the smear campaign against journalist Emilia Serkan and say they support her in her bid to challenge the prosecutor’s decision.

• “Yesterday’s decision of the prosecutor’s office has an impact both on Emilia Sercan and on all Romanian journalists who are trying to bring the political authorities to justice.
• We support Emilia Serkan in her quest for justice and support her efforts to challenge this unjust decision,” ten European and international organizations defending press freedom said on Tuesday.

These are: International Press Institute (IPI), ActiveWatch, Center for Independent Journalism (CJI), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation , OBC Transeuropa (OBCT) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The signatories say the decision to close the file comes twenty months after Sherkan first complained to police in February 2022 that his personal photos had been stolen and posted on adult websites. A few hours after filing the complaint, evidence provided by Sherkan to the police was published on a Moldovan media website, strongly suggesting that someone from the police had leaked the information.

On October 26, pending a decision, the signatory organizations asked Attorney General Alex Florin Florenta to keep the investigation open and hand it over to a new team under his leadership. In the letter, the signatories spoke of a long series of failures and clear procedural violations in the initial investigation, which indicated a deliberate attempt to undermine the investigation and protect the perpetrators of the crimes.

The prosecutor’s office closed the case in which journalist Emilia Sherkan accused her of defamation

Journalist Emilia Serkan announced on Monday that the case had been opened after she alleged a sting operation against her after prosecutors closed exposés on the plagiarism of former prime minister Nicolae Chuke’s doctoral dissertation.

The journalist says that the case was completely closed by the prosecutor of the Bucharest Court of Appeal Nicoleta Rotaru, deciding that none of the 7 crimes in the case were:

• “there is no leak of evidence from the police, which formed the basis of komprom@tula;
• no interference with my privacy (two felonies);
• no abuse of office (two crimes);
• no computer fraud;
• no threats or blackmail
• painting theft, bad luck, over.”

Emilia Serkan says the closure of the case was requested by the leadership of the General Prosecutor’s Office after Cristian Rizea said in August that he knew things “that could clarify all aspects of this case.”

• “The individual also stated that ‘I am requesting protected witness status and would like to receive the benefits provided by law after the facts that I wish to disclose.’
• Three weeks later, Rizea was taken from Rahov to the PCAB to be questioned by prosecutor Nicoleta Rotaru. Riese’s hearing was held without notifying my attorney so that he could be present.
• This time, the criminal Rize reserved the right to remain silent in order not to incriminate himself, which means that Rize was aware of his guilt.
• About two weeks after that point, the Attorney General’s Office sent a direction and follow-up memo to the PCAB asking me to collect my three cases and resolve them by the end of October. Coincidence, of course! And the files were put together and quickly resolved. In favor of criminals!
• All the crimes were closed and the prosecutor Nicoleta Rotaru decided that Rizea – ​​the one who leaked the evidence from the police and who repeatedly published my personal photos – is innocent,” Sherkan wrote on Facebook.

What did Emilia Serkan accuse

Journalist Emilia Sherkan has accused the government of organizing a sting operation against her after she discovered that Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke’s dissertation was plagiarized and then tried to cover up the operation.

In a text published in PressOne, Emilia Serkan stated that she was the target of three actions: threats, slander and intimidation. She said she has received threats from unknown people, including messages on Facebook Messenger from a person who allegedly sent her several private photos taken 20 years ago, which the journalist said were stolen from her electronic device.

The journalist claimed to have sent police a screenshot of a message she received on Facebook Messenger, including photos, and shortly after the message sent to police appeared on a website in the Republic of Moldova.

• “I have decided to publicly denounce the operations of discredit and intimidation to which I was subjected after January 18, 2022, the date when I disclosed that the dissertation of the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Chuke, is plagiarism.
• We decided this because this time the key player is the Romanian state itself: part of the evidence we provided to the Romanian police to identify the perpetrator of the breach of privacy was leaked from the file on the same day, forming the basis of a major whistleblowing operation.
• We have given the criminal investigation authorities time to investigate the leak we complained about on February 18, 2022.
• For 45 days, they did not even listen to me in the material opened by complaint, through which I complained about the leakage of information.
• Under these conditions, I decided to speak publicly both about the intimidation operation, of which I am the target, and about the parallel operation to cover up the leakage of information, which is taking place with the complicity of the heads of some institutions, which should ensure my protection both as a citizen and as a journalist.” – said Emilia Serkan.

READ ALSO: The plot behind the kompromat operation. Emilia Serkan: I was shocked. You go to the police to complain and the police sell you to thugs?