Senate's Tariceanu on President Iohannis's "silence" regarding PG Lazar: President makes a fundamental mistake

Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu argued on Thursday that the head of state "makes a fundamental mistake" by "being silent" regarding Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar, who was labeled by Tariceanu as "an instrument of the communist regime."

"It is something unimaginable that, 30 years after the fall of communism, the leadership of the Prosecutor's General Office be held by a communist prosecutor who is guilty of crimes against political prisoners. This is the Justice in Romania. (...) It is unimaginable what is happening with Lazar. I believe that the President makes a fundamental mistake, that will cost him. Anyway, that's his business. (...) The fact that Augustin Lazar is the one who kept in the drawer and closed all the investigation cases regarding the President, even related to the President's wife, rises some legitimate questions regarding this silence. If he want to remove any suspicion regarding this matter, if he wants to prove the Romanians he has nothing to hide, that Lazar isn't used there as his protection shield against some actions of Justice, then, the President should immediately dismiss him from office," Tariceanu told DC News.

Tariceanu asked President Klaus Iohannis, on 3 April, through an open letter, to sign the decree dismissing Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar from office, arguing that he would be among the characters "who sadly bring to mind the dirty games they played" for the former communist regime.