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High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice (Romanian: Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție) is Romania's supreme court. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world. Naming historyIt held various names during its existence: "Curtea Supremă" (Supreme Court) and "Tribunalul Suprem" (Supreme Tribunal) during the Communist period (1948–1952 and 1952–1989 respectively), and "Curtea Supremă de Justiție" (Supreme Court of Justice) from 1990 to 2003. The name "Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție" was re-introduced in 2003, having been also used during the United Principalities (1862–1881) and Kingdom of Romania (1881–1947). AdministrationThe court is led by a president, seconded by a vice-president and the leading council. Since September 2019, its president is Corina-Alina Corbu. The general assembly of the court's judges assigns two members for the Superior Council of Magistrature. The same assembly approves the annual activity report (released publicly) and the budget of the institution. According to the law, "The president, the vice-president and the section presidents of the High Court of Cassation and Justice are named by the President of Romania, at the proposal of the Superior Council of Magistrature, out of the judges of the High Court that have worked in at this instance for at least two years". The term lasts for three years, with the possibility of being renewed once.[2]
Controversial decisionsFrom 1995 to 2000, the Romanian Supreme Court rehabilitated a total of at least 14 convicted war criminals. These included 3 members of Ion Antonescu's wartime government (Nichifor Crainic, Toma Ghițulescu and finance minister Gheron Netta), Radu Dinulescu ("the Eichmann of Romania") and his deputy (Gheorghe Petrescu) as well as other statesmen and journalists such as former minister Stelian Popescu and Pan M. Vizirescu. A procedure known as "extraordinary appeal" was used to overturn their war crimes and "crimes against peace" convictions. In 2004, the "extraordinary appeal" procedure was eliminated from the Romanian legislation following recommendations from the European Court of Human Rights.[3][4][5][6] This, however, backfired on those who wanted these rehabilitations undone, as Efraim Zuroff came to find out. When, in February 2004, Zuroff demanded that the Romanian authorities overturn the rehabilitations of Colonels Radu Dinulescu and Gheorghe Petrescu, he was informed that this was "technically impossible". Due to the abolition of "extraordinary appeal", a decision by the Supreme Court can no longer be challenged within the framework of Romanian legislation.[7] List of Court Presidents
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