This article originally appeared on VICE Romania
Over 2,000 people gathered in front of the Romanian Parliament on Thursday night, in what looks like the beginning of a new series of protests in the Eastern European country. Hundreds of people also gathered in several cities around the country to chant "We want the rule of law, not political immunity!"
The cause of everyone's outrage is the Romanian parliament's insistence on protecting former Minister of Internal Affairs, Gabriel Oprea. Back in March 2016, Romanian prosecutors opened two cases of abuse of power against Oprea: one for illegally using motorcades, and one for purchasing a limousine using government funds. According to the prosecutors, Oprea used his influence to avoid traffic by riding with a motorcade of police cars and motorcycles over 1600 times, in less than a year. He allegedly used the motorcade to get faster to both business meetings, as well as dinner dates.
At one point, one of the officers driving a motorcycle that was part of Oprea's motorcade hit a pothole he didn't notice because of the rain and lost his life. According to a press release by the Romanian Supreme Justice Court, he had been used in three motorcades on just that day and was exhausted. The prosecutors are now trying to indict Oprea for manslaughter in this case, because the police officer was allegedly ordered to drive that motorcycle by the former minister. The parliament however has decided that he should keep his political immunity until his term as senator is over.
Oprea and the rest of the government he was part of were forced to resign last year, after tens of thousands of angry protesters took to the streets, to protest the deaths of over 60 young people in a nightclub fire. Now people are worried that Oprea will use his influence to escape the law and take the reigns of the government again, after the upcoming general elections in December.
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