The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) selected on Monday, by draw, the members of the five-judge panels for 2026.
For 2026, the same number of panels as in the previous year was set, namely two panels in criminal matters and two panels in civil matters.
The five-judge panels play a central role in ruling major corruption cases, ruling on appeals against decisions by the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) to sanction judges and prosecutors, as well as examining extraordinary legal remedies, increasingly used by defendants to avoid sentences.
* Criminal Panel 1 is made up of: Valerica Voica, Ioana Delia Lucaci, Luminita Ninu-Cristiu, Isabel Tocan and Simona Cristina Craciunoiu.
* Criminal Panel 2 is made up of: Eleni Cristina Marcu - president of the Criminal Section, Ilie Iulian Dragomir, Anca Barbu, Adina Adriana Radu and Paul Mihail Fratilescu.
At this panel, the second position on the standby list (substitutes) is held by Lia Savonea, president of the Supreme Court.
Some of these judges are regarded within the system as belonging to the "Savonea" group, having over time delivered controversial rulings in cases with major public impact.
Thus, Valerica Voica is promoted from the Bucharest Court of Appeal, where Lia Savonea previously served as president. She was part of the panel that acquitted former Securitate officers Marin Pirvulescu and Vasile Hodis, who tortured dissident Gheorghe Ursu.
Luminita Ninu-Cristiu was head of the Teleorman Tribunal and served as interim president of the Bucharest Court of Appeal during the period when Lia Savonea was active at the CSM.
Eleni Marcu was part of the panel that released from prison, in November 2025, Ionut Costea, Mircea Geoanaţs brother-in-law and former finance minister Sebastian Vladescu, by admitting an extraordinary legal remedy.
Eleni Marcu and Valerica Voica were part of the panel that, in June 2023, overturned the four-year prison sentence received by former mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone in the 'Colectiv' case, by admitting a cassation appeal.
* Civil Panel 1 is made up of: Mihnea Adrian Tanase, Cristinel Grosu, Lucian Ioan Gherman, Mihaela Glodeanu, Mirela Politeanu.
* Civil Panel 2 is made up of: Emilia Lenuta Panturu, Claudiu Iulian Rapeanu, Mariana Constantinescu (vice president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice), Dana Enache, Stefan Ioan Lucaciuc.
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