Provisions excluding right to refuse hearing as witness persons living with defendant found unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) on Thursday ruled as unconstitutional an article in the Code of Criminal Procedure that excludes from the right to refuse to be heard as witness persons who have established relations similar to those between parents and children, if they live with the suspect or defendant, Agerpres reports.

The court says in a press statement released on Thursday that the constitutional judges sustained a constitutionality objection and found unconstitutional the legislative solution in Article 117(1) (a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure that excludes from the right to refuses to be heard as witness persons who have established relationships similar to those between parents and children, if they live with the suspect or defendant.

"The provisions of Article 117 (1) (a) in the Code of Criminal Procedure reads as follows: '(1) The following persons have the right to refuse to be heard as witnesses: a) the spouse, ascendants and descendants as well as the brothers and sisters of a suspect or defendant.'"