The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has asked the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism - Territorial Structure Iași to urgently start an internal investigation into the drug trafficking case that concerned the son of a county councilor from Iași. FACIAS is demanding explanations for the poor handling of the case, which stalled for five years at the prosecution stage and remained in court for another three years. This unusually long duration led to the prescription of the statute of limitations and the termination of the criminal proceedings against Ștefan Răzvan Manolache.
According to public information analyzed by FACIAS, the case was opened in 2017, when undercover investigators documented several drug transactions allegedly carried out by Ștefan Răzvan Manolache, along with other individuals. He is the son of Mircea Manolache, a well-known businessman and county councilor in Iași. Although the initial investigation seemed solid, relying on clear evidence such as supervised purchases, statements and telephone intercepts, the case has entered an unusually long period of stagnation.
According to local press, between September 2017 and April 2022, no relevant prosecution activities would have been carried out. Basically, the case has been "shelved" for 5 years. FACIAS believes that such a situation raises serious questions about a possible cover-up of the criminal case.
Not until 2022 was the case sent for trial. However, in the pre-trial proceedings, the court discovered a serious inconsistency between the act for which the prosecutors had started the criminal prosecution and the act for which they had ordered the indictment. Ștefan Răzvan Manolache's lawyer made use of this procedural error and, in April 2023, obtained the referral of the indictment back to the prosecutors. The court found that the right to defense had been violated, which is why all statements given by Manolache as suspect and defendant were annulled.
In the end, in the case of Ștefan Răzvan Manolache, the criminal proceedings were terminated due to the expiry of the statute of limitations on criminal liability. Basically, the whole procedure collapsed because of the way in which the prosecuting authorities exercised their powers and unjustified delays.
FACIAS asks the chief prosecutor of DIICOT Iași to publicly explain why the case has been stuck for five years and whether there were any internal provisions to suspend the criminal investigation. FACIAS also calls for a check on the way in which the indictment was drawn up in order to establish how it was possible to prosecute for a crime other than the one under investigation. Last but not least, FACIAS calls for the names of the persons responsible to be identified and for the measures ordered to be communicated.