New plea to release soccer patron Gigi Becali to be analyzed on April 17
The Sector 1 Courthouse decided today to look into the new request to replace Gigi Becali's preventive arrest with an interdiction on April 17, plea lodged by one of the lawyers of the Steaua Bucharest soccer team patron.
One of the arguments used in the request is that the arrest violates Becali's right to be elected as a member of the European Parliament, as he became an eligible candidate when Vadim Tudor included him on the list of the far right Greater Romania Party (PRM). The detention however makes it impossible for Becali to run his campaign.
The plea also states that the prosecutor needs to prove that a whole community is jeopardized if the defendant is set free.
Another of the soccer patron's lawyers, Gheorghita Mateut, explained to the judges that the accusation of private justice is not a deed stipulated by the criminal law. Moreover, he claimed that Becali was not heard by the public prosecutors, that the papers on which the case was first built are “hidden” and that he was not assisted by a lawyer, which all constitute severe violations of the internal codes and should annul the detention. He concluded by saying that should the court decide to revoke the preventive arrest, the prosecutors have the right to file for appeal.
The defendant's lawyers also lodged a complaint with the Senate commission for the investigation of abuses on April 10 accusing public prosecutors and judges of having violated Becali's rights to defense and juridical assistance. The request will be looked into tomorrow morning.
Mateut added that a similar complaint could be lodged with the Deputies Chamber as well.
Gigi Becali added to his defense during today's hearing that his stay in prison during the Holy Week is similar to Christ's crucification and serves as the purest communion. He restated that he did not order the thieves to be beaten up and that he only gave them whiskey and 50 lei for a taxi ride.
Becali's four bodyguards also requested that the arrest be revoked and that they be bailed out.
One of them, Dumitru Beciu, claims that he does not work for the Steaua financier and that he was not involved in the bar incidents. The bail for Nicolae Dumitrascu was set at 30,000 lei. All four requests will be answered on April 16, so that lawyers can file all the necessary documents within the remaining week.
Moreover, Aurelian Badescu, the lawyer of one of the bodyguards, was fined by 2,000 lei because he called the public prosecutor a “liar”when he denied that Stefan Dediu is prosecuted for having shot one of the thieves. According to the court, Dediu is charged both with kidnapping and with gun usage.