Romania

New York, February 22, 2006—Prosecutors in the eastern city of Focsani today indicted journalist Sebastian Oancea for possessing classified military documents about Western forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the second such arrest in less than week, according to local and international press reports.

Oancea, Focsani correspondent for the national daily Ziua, faces up to seven years in prison, the prosecutor general's office told The Associated Press. Authorities searched Oancea's home and seized his computer last week; they questioned again him on Tuesday before charging him, AP said.

New York, February 17, 2006—A Romanian court today remanded journalist Marian Garleanu of newspaper Romania Libera to 10 days in custody for possessing classified military documents about Western troops in Afghanistan and Iraq which he did not publish. Garleanu was arrested Thursday in the eastern city of Focsani as part of a broader investigation of a former Romanian soldier who leaked classified documents to several newspapers, The Associated Press reported. He has not been charged.

Romania

In its annual assessment of Romania's democratic reforms, the European Commission criticized the government's press freedom record. Authorities' use of lucrative advertising contracts and forgiveness of debts to the state to influence television news coverage, as well as provincial politicians' acquisition of media outlets to promote their political and business interests, continued to erode media freedom, the report noted. The negative assessment could undermine Romania's efforts to secure EU and NATO membership in 2007.

Remembering a Friend Lost to Saddam’s Terror by Frank Smyth International Herald Tribune June 3, 2003

Since the Social Democratic Party (PSD) came to power in 2001, the Romanian government has repeatedly tried to silence its critics in an attempt to stabilize relations with Europe and the United States and thereby secure membership in the European Union (EU) and NATO. Rather than battle the corruption that jeopardizes its status within the international community, the government has opted instead to intimidate media outlets that expose widespread corruption.

Jonathan C. Randal, The Washington Post


The U.N. International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) ruled to limit compelled testimony from war correspondents. The decision, announced at the tribunal's Appeals Chamber, came in response to the appeal by former Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal, who had been subpoenaed to testify in the case of former Bosnian-Serb housing minister Radoslav Brdjanin, who is facing charges of genocide because of his alleged role in the persecution and expulsion of more than 100,000 non-Serbs during the Bosnian war. The subpoena against Randal was set aside, and he is no longer required to testify.