Romanian judge who convicted media mogul for corruption was unfairly disrobed, European Court of Human Rights rules

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The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a Romanian judge who sentenced media mogul Dan Voiculescu to ten years in prison was unfairly disrobed because she was not allowed to present a defense.

Camelia Bogdan sued Romania at the Strasbourg-based court after being stripped of her magistrate’s robes in 2017.

The court ruled Tuesday in her favor and said she was denied the right to defend her position. The court ordered Romania pay her 8,000 euros, less than the 100,000 euros she asked for.

„It’s an honor for me to have the opportunity to defend the rule of law in Romania,” she told Radio Free Europe,” adding that the Strasbourg court should also rule against a subsequent „illegal suspension” from the profession against her three years ago.

In 2016, the Judicial Inspectorate asked the Supreme Council of Magistrates to disrobe Ms Bogdan saying she was disqualified from making a judgment in the case against Dan Voiculescu, the then owner of the Antena media group.

Magistrates said that Ms Bogdan had been done paid work for the agriculture ministry which was one of the parties in the case against Dan Voiculescu.

The mogul received the sentence for money laundering and fraudulently privatizing an agricultural institute in 2014. As he was over 60 was eligible for parole after serving a third of the sentence.

Camelia Bogdan sued her dismissal in Romania and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor. However, she was disrobed a second time in 2018 after taking on a case for a colleague who was on leave and not giving him the case after his return.

She has sued her second dismissal at Romania’s Supreme Court.

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