Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Romania
Newsline: Singapore’s special envoy to Romania will attend next Ionescu hearing
Singapore’s Special Envoy to Romania, Ambassador Ong Eng Chuan will attend the hearing. A representative from the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore will accompany Mr Ong. The trial involves witnesses giving evidence via video link from a courtroom in the Subordinate Courts in Singapore. Ionescu was involved in a local hit-and-run accident in December 2009 which left one dead and two injured. One of the victims, Mr Bong Hwee Haw, has since developed epilepsy due to complications from his head injuries. Mr Bong now suffers from seizures that prevent him from working. Ionescu denies responsibility and reported the car stolen. The black Audi A6 was later found abandoned in an industrial estate. Ionsecu could face up to seven years in jail in Bucharest for manslaughter if convicted.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120518-346725.html
Newsline: Romania has no plans to close Damascus embassy
Romania has no plans to withdraw its embassy from Damascus, given it allows keeping in touch with the Romanian citizens in Syria and plays an important role in solving their problems, Foreign Affairs Minister Andrei Marga said. According to Marga, Romania from all the European Union states probably has the largest community of citizens in Syria. ‘I reiterated the importance of implementing the plan worked out by Kofi Annan and, in relation to it, the importance of immediately stopping any form of violence. Romania is participating five unarmed military observers to the U.N. mission in Syria’, Marga explained. Stress was also laid on the importance of ensuring the humanitarian aid transport to the areas where the Syrian civil population mostly needs, by observing the provisions of the Kofi Annan plan by the Syrian authorities, Agerpres reports.
http://actmedia.eu/daily/formin-romania-has-no-plans-to-withdraw-damascus-embassy/39972
Newsline: Romanian Foreign Minister Sacked Over Abusive Remarks
Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc fired the country’s top diplomat over his insulting remarks about anti-government protesters. After the start of the ongoing demonstrations against austerity measures imposed by the cabinet and planned healthcare reforms, Baconschi described the protesters in a blog post on January 15th as “people stupefied by television”. While the rallies over the past ten days have been generally peaceful, there have been several sporadic outbursts of violence, when police were attacked by demonstrators with bricks and Molotov cocktails. Baconschi called those people “inept and violent slum dwellers”, according to Reuters. Announcing his decision in parliament, Boc apologised to Romanians about his minister’s inappropriate remarks. “I sincerely regret the gaffes made by some of my colleagues regarding the demonstrators,” he said. In a statement to Romanian broadcaster Realitate later in the day, Baconschi showed no remorse for his remarks. “I say what I think and mean what I say,” the DPA quoted him as saying.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/25012012-romanian-foreign-minister-sacked-over-abusive-remarks/
Newsline: Romanian diplomat seeks timing test in deadly crash case
A Romanian diplomat charged with manslaughter in Singapo recalled for a timing test, which lawyers claimed would prove that he was not driving the car involved in a fatal crash. Silviu Ionescu’s lawyers asked for a reenactment of the diplomat’s drive on the night ofDec 15, 2009, when two pedestrians were severely injured and one killed. The Bucharest court granted the request and set a new hearing for Dec 14. ‘What we want is a legal experiment where experts measure the time and the distance covered by the car, under similar weather conditions and with all the details mentioned by prosecutors’, Cristian Ene, one of the diplomat’s lawyers, told AFP.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_715221.html
Newsline: Trial of African diplomat’s wife opens in Romania
The wife of a Congolese diplomat says her husband instructed her to smuggle cigarettes from Serbiain to Romania. Esther Pascaline, who is charged with cigarette smuggling, told the court that her husband, second counselor for the Congolese embassy in Serbia Marc Marius Itela Elombola, instructed her to accompany a Serbian man and deliver the cigarettes in Romania for which she was due to receive (EURO)1,600 (US$2,260). In June, Romanian authorities found 1,800 cartons of smuggled cigarettes inside her car. Organized crime prosecutors charged Elombola in absentia and arrested his wife. Pascaline’s driver and two other Serb citizens were arrested and they risk prison sentences of up to seven years.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1698463
Newsline: Trial of African diplomat’s wife to go on in Romania
Romanian prosecutors say a Congolese diplomat’s wife charged with cigarette smuggling will face trial in September. In June, Romanian authorities found 1,800 cartons of smuggled cigarettes in the car of the wife of an official at the Congolese embassy inSerbia, who claimed diplomatic immunity. Romanian authorities dismissed the argument. Organized crime prosecutors charged the embassy’s second counselor Marc Marius Itela Elombola in absentia after his wife Esther Pascaline was caught with cigarettes from Montenegro in her car. She is under arrest in the western city ofTimisoarapending trial, together with her driver and two other Serb citizens. They risk prison sentences of up to seven years.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1674407
Newsline: Wife of Congo diplomat arrested in Romania
Police have arrested the wife of an African diplomat and charged her with involvement in a Serbian smuggling ring after she was caught with 1,800 cartons of cigarettes in her car.Timisoaracounty court in western Romania ordered that Esther Pascaline be held for 29 days pending trial, following Monday’s discovery. Her Serbian driver, Miljan Vujosevic, and two other Serbs citizens were also arrested and charged. The four can appeal. Pascaline’s husband, the second counselor at the Congolese embassy inBelgrade, is also suspected of involvement in the ring which smuggled tax-free cigarettes from Montenegro to Romania. No charges have been brought against him. The four risk prison sentences of up to 10 years for smuggling.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015313576_apeuromaniacigarettesmuggling.html
US embassy cables: Nuclear plant not prepared for accident
Leaked diplomatic cables published in a Romanian newspaper show U.S. officials believed the Romanian government would struggle to cope with an accident at a nuclear plant. The government could not handle a radioactive leak at the Cernavoda plant in eastern Romania despite official assurances that safety measures were adequate, according to the cable dated Jan. 28, 2009, and published Monday in the Jurnalul National daily. U.S. embassy officials say in the cable there are only seven members of a team that trains only once a month to handle emergencies — too few to take care of a leak. The newpaper is a media partner of the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism. The centre has signed an agreement with the secret-spilling site, WikiLeaks, to release 1,027 U.S. cables about Romania.
Newsline: Romanian diplomat charged with manslaughter
A Bucharest court ruled Wednesday that witnesses in Singapore can be heard via videolink in the case of a Romanian diplomat charged with manslaughter after a hit-and-run car crash there. Silviu Ionescu, a former Romanian charge d’affaire in the state city, is charged with manslaughter, causing physical injuries and making false statements after the accident in December 2009. Ionescu pleads not guilty. He has always denied he was the driver and says the car was stolen. The diplomat is alleged to have hit three pedestrians while driving a car belonging to the Romanian mission and to have fled the scene. One pedestrian, a 30-year-old Malaysian national, suffered brain damage and died on Christmas Day. One of the victim’s friends, Bonghwee Haw, a 23-year-old Malaysian who was also severely injured in the crash, will testify through a videolink on May 6, the judge ruled. Another pedestrian injured in the crash, Yenny Young, will be heard the same day also through videolink. A further 20 witnesses from Singapore are also expected to testify between May 12 and May 20. Ionescu’s trial started on October 6 last year in front of a Bucharest court.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110309-267255.html
Newsline: Russia/Romania play spy tit-for-tat
Romania expelled the first secretary of the Russian Embassy after Moscow detained and kicked out a Romanian Embassy official for allegedly spying, experts say. Anatoly Akopov was declared persona non grata and ordered out of Romania to the dismay of Russian officials. The action came after Russia’s Federal Security Service said Monday Gabriel Grecu, first secretary of the political department of the Romanian Embassy, had been detained in Moscow while trying to obtain military secrets from a Russian national. “Unlike the first secretary of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, who was caught red-handed in possession of materials and spying equipment that completely exposed his illegal activities, the Russian diplomat was not involved in any activities that could provide grounds for such decisions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russia said it could counter Romania’s move. “We reserve the right to take retaliatory measures,” the ministry said.
http://m.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/aug/18/russiaromania-play-spy-tit-for-tat/
