At a plenary sitting on Monday, the Senate passed a bill tabled by the government regulating legal expenses in the case of fugitives evading criminal prosecution or trial, as well as recovering the expenses incurred by returning them to Romania.

„When computing the expenses incurred by the Romanian government, if the requested person – an extradited person or extraditable person, as the case may be – has evaded criminal prosecution or trial, the enforcing court shall follow the Code of Criminal Procedure. In order to recover the expenses incurred by returning to the country the requested person, the extradited or extraditable person, as the case may be, who has evaded the execution of the sentence, the Romanian authorities have the right of regress before the competent civil court. Such cases shall be judged expeditiously and shall be exempt from stamp duty,” reads the explanatory memorandum of the bill supplementing Article 16 of Law 302/2004 on international judicial co-operation in criminal matters.

According to the bill, all these expenses are additional burdens on the national budget of Romania. In 2023 alone, the Ministry of Internal Affairs or of the Ministry of Justice spent over RON 10 million on returning fugitives to Romania by air or land.

The Senate is the first legislative chamber in this case.

AGERPRES