Rodica Stănoiu
Encyclopedia
Rodica Mihaela Stănoiu is a Romania
n jurist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party
(PSD) and later the Conservative Party
(PC), she was a member of the Romanian Senate
for Olt County
from 1996 to 2008, with a hiatus in March-December 2004. In the Adrian Năstase
cabinet, she was Minister of Justice
from 2000 to 2004.
, Dâmboviţa County
, she attended the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest
from 1957 to 1961. She undertook Criminology studies at the Université de Montréal
from 1968 to 1969, and obtained a Doctor of Law degree in Bucharest in 1974, with a thesis on International Criminal Law. She also studied Comparative Law at the University of Strasbourg
in 1982. From 1961 to 2000, she worked as a scientific researcher at Bucharest's Institute for Judicial Studies (ICJ), advancing in rank in 1971 and again in 1990, when she became head of the Public Law Department. During her career as professor and researcher in criminal law and criminology, she authored or co-authored fourteen monographs, 130 studies and 30 reports to international congresses. She was also visiting professor at Strasbourg and the Université Libre de Bruxelles
(1985) and at Montreal (1988). Among her professional positions were as president of the Romanian Society of Criminology and Criminalistics, and as editor-in-chief of a law review
.
Stănoiu worked as a secretary of state at the Labour Ministry from 1995 to 1996. She was elected senator three times: in 1996
, 2000
and 2004
. During her time in the Senate, she was on the committees for human rights, religious affairs and minorities (1996-2000); for revising the Constitution
(2000-2004); for investigating abuses, combating corruption and petitions (2004-2006); and for defence, public order and national security (2007-2008). After the PDSR (PSD from 2001) won the 2000 election, incoming Prime Minister
Adrian Năstase named her Justice Minister that December. Before the end of 2001, she had dismissed every prosecutor involved in anti-corruption trials and in trials of state officials accused of acts of repression during the bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989
that toppled the Communist regime
. In July of that year, President
Ion Iliescu
appointed Stănoiu's husband to the Constitutional Court
, raising fears of nepotism. He and Năstase decided to sack her in March 2004 following calls for her departure from the opposition National Liberal Party
(PNL) and Democratic Party
(PD), comments by a judge accusing her of being personally responsible for "chaos" in the justice system and for not wanting genuinely independent judges, and a draft report by the European Parliament
's Committee on Foreign Affairs
criticising Romania for lacking a politically independent judiciary. Right afterwards, Iliescu hired her as a presidential adviser, leading to her resignation from the Senate, as the two positions cannot be held simultaneously. Within her party, Stănoiu was a vice president from 1996 to 2000 and again from 2001.
Both during and after Stănoiu's ministerial service, her relationship with the pre-1989 Securitate
secret police under Communism came under scrutiny. In autumn 2006, the CNSAS, an institution charged with investigating Securitate affiliations, declared her a collaborator based on a law later found unconstitutional. In response, she challenged the verdict and quit the PSD, joining the PC several months later. According to the CNSAS, while working at the ICJ in the 1980s, Stănoiu, code-named "Sanda", signed fifty-one notes reporting information about her colleagues, including her future boss Năstase, to the Securitate. Although graphologists
have attested that the handwriting is hers, she claims the notes are forgeries and refuses to comment of whether she collaborated with the secret police. As of 2010, the case awaits a final resolution. In January 2001, her first major appointment while minister was former top Securitate official General Marian Ureche as director of the ministry's intelligence service. Later, he was revealed to have been Securitate supervisor at the ICJ, and she fought to keep him until the extent of his involvement in controversial intelligence work before and after 1989 emerged and led to his ouster in November 2003.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n jurist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
(PSD) and later the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania)
The Conservative Party of Romania is a political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party . From 2005 until December 3, 2006, the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition...
(PC), she was a member of the Romanian Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
for Olt County
Olt County
Olt is a county of Romania, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia . The capital city is Slatina.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 489,274 and the population density was 89/km²....
from 1996 to 2008, with a hiatus in March-December 2004. In the Adrian Năstase
Adrian Nastase
Adrian Năstase is a Romanian politician who was the Prime Minister of Romania from December 2000 to December 2004.He competed as the Social Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 presidential election, but was defeated by centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance candidate Traian Băsescu.He was...
cabinet, she was Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Romania)
The Ministry of Justice of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Romanian Government. It administers the judicial system.The current minister of justice is Cătălin Predoiu, an independent.-External links:* *...
from 2000 to 2004.
Biography
Born in NucetNucet, Dâmbovita
Nucet is a commune in Dâmboviţa County, southern Romania with a population of 2,147 people. It is composed of three villages: Cazaci, Ilfoveni and Nucet....
, Dâmboviţa County
Dâmbovita County
Dâmbovița ; also spelt Dîmbovița is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 541,763 and the population density was 134/km²...
, she attended the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
from 1957 to 1961. She undertook Criminology studies at the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
from 1968 to 1969, and obtained a Doctor of Law degree in Bucharest in 1974, with a thesis on International Criminal Law. She also studied Comparative Law at the University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
in 1982. From 1961 to 2000, she worked as a scientific researcher at Bucharest's Institute for Judicial Studies (ICJ), advancing in rank in 1971 and again in 1990, when she became head of the Public Law Department. During her career as professor and researcher in criminal law and criminology, she authored or co-authored fourteen monographs, 130 studies and 30 reports to international congresses. She was also visiting professor at Strasbourg and the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
(1985) and at Montreal (1988). Among her professional positions were as president of the Romanian Society of Criminology and Criminalistics, and as editor-in-chief of a law review
Law review
A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...
.
Stănoiu worked as a secretary of state at the Labour Ministry from 1995 to 1996. She was elected senator three times: in 1996
Romanian legislative election, 1996
Legislative elections were held in Romania on 3 November 1996, together with the Presidential election. The elections were won by the Romanian Democratic Convention, an alliance of liberal, Christian Democratic and green parties. This marked the first time that the Party of Social Democracy was out...
, 2000
Romanian legislative election, 2000
Legislative elections where be held in Romania on November 26, 2000, together with the Presidential election. The Greater Romania Party made big gains, as did the PDSR, which became the ruling party. The formerly governing Romanian Democratic Convention lost all its seats and was shortly...
and 2004
Romanian legislative election, 2004
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were up for election.The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election...
. During her time in the Senate, she was on the committees for human rights, religious affairs and minorities (1996-2000); for revising the Constitution
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...
(2000-2004); for investigating abuses, combating corruption and petitions (2004-2006); and for defence, public order and national security (2007-2008). After the PDSR (PSD from 2001) won the 2000 election, incoming Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Adrian Năstase named her Justice Minister that December. Before the end of 2001, she had dismissed every prosecutor involved in anti-corruption trials and in trials of state officials accused of acts of repression during the bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
that toppled the Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. In July of that year, President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
appointed Stănoiu's husband to the Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of Romania
The Constitutional Court of Romania is the institution which rules on whether the laws, decrees or other bills enacted by Romanian authorities are in conformity with the Constitution....
, raising fears of nepotism. He and Năstase decided to sack her in March 2004 following calls for her departure from the opposition National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
(PNL) and Democratic Party
Democratic Liberal Party (Romania)
The Democratic Liberal Party is a populist, centre-right party in Romania. It was formed on 15 December 2007, when the Democratic Party merged with the Liberal Democratic Party. From 2004 to 2007, the Democratic Party was part of the governing Justice and Truth Alliance...
(PD), comments by a judge accusing her of being personally responsible for "chaos" in the justice system and for not wanting genuinely independent judges, and a draft report by the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
's Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Foreign Affairs (EU)
The Committee on Foreign Affairs , previously called Political Affairs, is a committee of the European Parliament...
criticising Romania for lacking a politically independent judiciary. Right afterwards, Iliescu hired her as a presidential adviser, leading to her resignation from the Senate, as the two positions cannot be held simultaneously. Within her party, Stănoiu was a vice president from 1996 to 2000 and again from 2001.
Both during and after Stănoiu's ministerial service, her relationship with the pre-1989 Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
secret police under Communism came under scrutiny. In autumn 2006, the CNSAS, an institution charged with investigating Securitate affiliations, declared her a collaborator based on a law later found unconstitutional. In response, she challenged the verdict and quit the PSD, joining the PC several months later. According to the CNSAS, while working at the ICJ in the 1980s, Stănoiu, code-named "Sanda", signed fifty-one notes reporting information about her colleagues, including her future boss Năstase, to the Securitate. Although graphologists
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
have attested that the handwriting is hers, she claims the notes are forgeries and refuses to comment of whether she collaborated with the secret police. As of 2010, the case awaits a final resolution. In January 2001, her first major appointment while minister was former top Securitate official General Marian Ureche as director of the ministry's intelligence service. Later, he was revealed to have been Securitate supervisor at the ICJ, and she fought to keep him until the extent of his involvement in controversial intelligence work before and after 1989 emerged and led to his ouster in November 2003.