Government surveillance in Romania: the case of whistle-blower Constantin Bucur

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Background

At a press conference in May 1996, Constantin Bucur publicly revealed alleged abuses of power by the Romanian intelligence service, placing both his career and his liberty in jeopardy. He claimed that, for many years after the fall of the Communist regime, the Romanian authorities had been illicitly intercepting the phone calls of journalists, politicians and members of civil society.

The response by the government was to place Constantin on trial for the disclosure of secret material, leading to two years’ imprisonment.

Judgment from the European Court of Human Rights

The Court found that there were a lack of safeguards in the Romanian legal system to prevent unjustified government surveillance of citizens. Mr Bucur’s revalations about widepsread alleged abused by high-ranking officials had been in the public interest. However, at the time no procedure existed in Romanian law to allow for whistle blowers like him to safely disclose such information. The Romanian courts had also failed to address the argument that his disclosures had been in the public interest. As such, Mr Bucur’s rights had been violated.

Country Situation

Although the conviction against Mr Bucur has since been erased, the shortcomings in protections for whistle-blowers have yet to be rectified. In 2016, the Committee of Ministers noted that further efforts were necessary to bring Romanian legislation in-line with Strasbourg case law.

There continue to be allegations of surveillance on NGOs, journalists and political opponents. As late as 2016, Romania’s Constitutional Court ruled that the legislation allowing for intelligence services to conduct technical surveillance was imprecise, unclear and unpredictable. Reforms to prevent unjustified secret surveillance are still incomplete - and there is still no effective remedy when this happens.

Useful links to the Bucur and Toma v Romania case (Application No 40238/02)