The head of the DNA, forced to rehire the prosecutor…

The head of the DNA must rehire prosecutor Cristian Ardelean at the Oradea Territorial Service and pay him the difference between the salary he received and the one he should have received as a DNA prosecutor, from the time he was dismissed from office until his reinstatement effective, i.e. at least for the last 5 years. This is what the Cluj Court of Appeal decided, but the sentence is not final.

The trial was opened by prosecutor Cristian Ardelean against his dismissal from DNA Oradea, on January 10, 2019, by an order given by the interim head of DNA, Călin Nistor. He cited the image damage caused to DNA by the famous recording made public by the lawyer Răzvan Doseanu, in which the anti-corruption prosecutors from Oradea, including Ardelean, discussed the judges, “the interpretation given in the mass media of the recorded conversations being in the sense that the prosecutors from The Oradea Territorial Service carried out the criminal investigation in certain files with magistrates in order to intimidate them”.

The order, which also concerned prosecutor Ciprian Man, was challenged only by Ardelean, but the trial was suspended after the magistrate notified the Constitutional Court, claiming a provision in the Law on judicial organization that allowed the dismissal of some DNA prosecutors “for improper exercise of service duties”.

In November last year, the Constitutional Court gave him the right, establishing that the provision is arbitrary, because “it does not specify the criteria, conditions and procedure of revocation”.

As a result, the trial at the Cluj Court of Appeal resumed and, on Monday, the court pronounced the verdict.

According to the solution posted on the court’s portal, the court panel annulled the order to revoke Ardelean, issued by the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, and forced the head of the DNA to order the reinstatement of Ardelean in the position of anticorruption prosecutor within the DNA – Territorial Service Oradea city.

At the same time, the judges forced DNA to pay the prosecutor the difference between the salary received and the one he should have received as a DNA prosecutor, starting on February 5, 2019, “until the effective reinstatement of the Ardelean plaintiff Cristian Marius in DNA prosecutor position – Oradea Territorial Service”.

Also, the DNA and the chief prosecutor of the DNA were obliged to pay Ardelean the sum of 4,000 lei, representing court costs.

The decision of the Cluj Court of Appeal is not final, DNA having the possibility to appeal it, within 15 days from the communication.

Currently chief prosecutor of the Criminal Prosecution Section of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bihor Court, prosecutor Cristian Ardelean did not want to comment, for now, on the solution. “I expect it to remain definitive,” said Ardelean.