Over 57,000 petitioning AG Scutea to reopen August 10 case

More than 57,000 citizens have signed a petition started by the Declic Community asking Attorney General Gabriela Scutea to reopen the case involving the violent dispersion of anti-government street protesters on August 10 2018 and to investigate those who ordered the aggression and gassing of peaceful protesters.

"Leaders of the Declic Community handed the petition to the attorney general and asked her to quickly consider the request of tens of thousands of citizens, who are waiting for justice to be done for the hundreds of victims of August 10, 2018. It is already two years since violence in Victoriei Square, and the case is still at the stage of criminal investigation (...) If the attorney general does not heed the request of tens of thousands of Romanians, the Declic Community will continue the court procedure and will even bring the case before the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary," according to a press statement released by the Declic Community on Monday.

The petition calls for a thorough and impartial investigation. "In order to have more confidence in the judiciary, we want to see a thorough and impartial investigation that finds the ones responsible for the repression of August 10. Otherwise, we risk the August 10 investigation becoming a new 'no-culprit' case, such as the Revolution and miners' riots cases," the petition reads

Declic Community leader Catalina Hoparteanu is quoted as saying she does not ask for anything other than for justice to work for all citizens.

"We have all been in the streets to defend the independence of the Romanian judiciary. Now we only ask for justice to work for all citizens. If the attorney general does not overturn the shameful resolution of the Directorate for Investigation of Organised Crime and Terror (DIICOT), then she will add another bleak page to the history of Romanian justice, after the Revolution and miners' riots cases," according to Hoparteanu.

Attorney General Gabriela Scutea said on July 15, after DIICOT closed the August 10 case, that she understood the "public emotion" aroused by the case and announced that all the documents in the case file would be "weighed on" at a check.