CASES
TUNDREA CASE
Marcel Ţundrea was sentenced to 25 years in prison, 12 of which he served During the served time he made numerous attempts to prove his innocence, despite being charged with rape and murder.
The alleged victim was a 14-year-old girl from Pojogeni, near Târgu Cărbuneşti, who was found lifeless on the side of a river in June 1992, with Ţundrea being the prime suspect.
In 2004, a DNA test proved that Marcel Ţundrea did not rape the 14-year-old minor, with following scientific testing pointing to Gheorghe Avram as the perpetrator. Both live in the same village, and they shared a cell at the Târgu Jiu Penitentiary for a while, when Avram was convicted of more severe crimes, including murder, committed after Ţundrea's imprisonment.
Marcel Ţundrea died on January 18, 2007, after claiming multiple times that he believes Gheorghe Avram is the main offender of the crimes in Pojogeni. He supported hius claims through several personal discussions with Avram, but also through the fact that more crimes and murders had been discoverd in Pojogeni until Avram’s imprisonment. Once he was in confinment, no other murders or similar crimes occured.
Officially, the first DNA testing in criminal cases was performed in Romania after 2002, hence the courts were unable to administrate this evidence at the time of the verdict in the Ţundrea case, which was later deemed to be a judicial error, according to the ICCJ Prosecutor's Office.
The case concerning the rape and crime committed on June 16, 1992 was taken over by the prosecutors of the Supreme Court's Criminal Investigation and Forensic Section from the Gorj Tribunal's Prosecutor's Office.
Ilie Marcel Ţundrea was charged with aggravated murder and rape on November 9, 1992, following investigations made by the Gorj County Prosecutor's Office and the Gorj Police Inspectorate.
Ţundrea was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1993, of which he served 12 years, claiming innocence throughout the inquiry and confinement.
The Braşov Tribunal granted Ţundrea's request for appeal on September 17, 2004, dismissing the Gorj Tribunal's verdict of 18 May 1993, which became final on November 27, 1997, and ordered his acquittal for rape and aggravated murder.
After the final decision of acquittal, Ţundrea's case remained unsolved, and the Gorj Tribunal's Prosecutor's Office was given the authority to continue the investigation.
The case was taken over from the Prosecutor's Office of the Gorj Tribunal by the Prosecutor General of the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court on June 10, 2010.
Following investigations by the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office, Gheorghe Avram was sentenced to prison on March 14, 2011, after being detained in another case for aggravated murder.
At the same moment, the prosecutors discovered that the criminal investigation against Gheorghe Avram for rape had come to an end due to the special prescription of criminal liability.
Procurorii arătau că, având în vedere faptul că existau suficiente indicii că autorul crimei putea fi Gheorghe Avram, după începerea urmăririi penale “in rem”, în 15 iunie 2010, a fost dispusă o constatare tehnico-ştiinţifică genetică.
Prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into the case of Gheorghe Avram on December 15, 2010, based on the results of genetic analysis, and the matter was brought to court in March 2011.
The Supreme Court found Ţundrea guilty of aggravated murder on November 27, 1997, as a final decision.
RĂUȚĂ’S CASE FROM ’89, din ’89,
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On Wednesday, the spy Constantin Răuţă stood before the Military Court of Appeal's magistrates in an attempt to convince them to reconsider his conviction. The individual resides in the United States and has fought for his rights for many years. He spent 24 years at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Facility Greenbelt research center in Maryland, and another ten years working on the ballistic missile protection system (SM-3 system), which will be stationed in Romania as well.
Constantin Răuţă is accustomed to the Military Court, having spent years attempting to convince the justices to overturn his sentence, which was given during the communist regime in 1974. Răuţă, an American citizen of Romanian descent, is the sole communist-era death sentence that has not been revoked by the courts.
In the 1970s, Constantin Răuţă worked as an engineer at IPROCHIM Bucharest and at the Ministry of Chemistry, a field coordinated by Elena Ceauşescu and the Security, because the chemical sector, like any other strategic economic sector, is under the authority of DIE, the State Security Department. If Răuţă intended to go abroad for higher studies, DIE requested him to agree to become a partner of this service. According to EVZ.RO, he took the conspiratorial name "Călin" and promised to carry out espionage missions for DIE as long as he is overseas, where he is being instructed to carry out "anti-NATO" missions. IPROCHIM Bucureşti şi la Ministerul Chimiei, domeniu coordonat de Elena Ceauşescu şi de Securitate, deoarece, ca orice sector economic strategic, cel chimic se afla sub controlul DIE, din DSS (Departamentul Securităţii Statului). DIE i-a cerut lui Răuţă să accepte să devină colaborator al acestui serviciu, dacă voia să i se permită să plece la studii în străinătate. A acceptat numele conspirativ “Călin” şi a promis ca atata timp cât se va afla în străinătate va îndeplini misiuni de spionaj pentru DIE, el fiind instruit pentru executarea unor misiuni “anti-NATO”, scrie EVZ.RO.
Because he chose to remain in the United States, the communist regime sentenced him to death. He spent 24 years at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Facility Greenbelt research center in Maryland, and another ten years working on the ballistic missile protection system (SM-3 system), which will be situated in Romania as well. When he applied for a passport renewal in 2005, the Passport Office notified him that his Romanian citizenship had been canceled. When he requested that his death sentence be overturned in 2008, the Bucharest Territorial Military Tribunal chose to maintain the communist regime's conviction, despite the fact that the capital penalty has been abolished since 1990.
Absurdul a continuat, pentru că şi această decizie a fost reconfirmată de Instanţa Supremă. Răuţă a trimis cazul său la Curtea Europeană pentru Drepturile Omului (CEDO), “pentru încălcarea dreptului la viaţă, la libertate, la avere, la un proces echitabil, nu doar de către justiţia română comunistă, dar şi de cea post-decembristă”.
Tribunalul Militar Teritorial Bucureşti (TMTB) a anulat, în ianuarie 2010, mandatul de executare a sentinţei de condamnare la moarte. Constantin Răuţă figurează în “Raportul final al Comisiei prezidenţiale pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România”, alături de alte persoane pe care regimul comunist din România le-a considerat vinovate de trădare.