The Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, explained on Thursday evening, on Antena 3 CNN, that Potra’s return to the country was carried out under conditions of “deprivation of liberty” for him, meaning Potra was in custody in the United Arab Emirates and was transferred to custody in Romania after extradition. The Minister of Justice made these clarifications because Potra’s lawyers claimed that he and his family returned to Romania “voluntarily”, to “clear their name”.
“I wouldn’t want to speculate on a case that is ongoing and now, behold, with the accused present to answer before the justice but, as you mentioned, the accusations are serious and this seriousness, from the perspective of legal framing in the penal code, implies significant penalties, and to the extent that, benefiting from all the procedural guarantees of the rule of law, a person would be found guilty, of course these penalties should be within the limits provided by law”, said the minister.
According to him, the return of the three internationally wanted persons to Romania is a success of the Romanian authorities in an extradition procedure. These people left Romania, they left the country, they had an arrest warrant and Romania had to resort to judicial cooperation instruments, the official affirmed.
“The Ministry of Justice was in contact with the Emirati authorities, we have a good judicial cooperation with them, and their return to the country, I repeat, is the result of an extradition process, they did not come voluntarily and freely but under the rule of an arrest warrant. They will go through the judicial procedures”.
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