Usually, the lenience of prosecutors and judges when it comes to female criminals goes to the extent of granting minimal accountability for criminal acts but still, within the boundaries of the law. Although this is already bad, sometimes the pussy pass goes even further and ignores the law altogether.
On January 1 2013, a young woman from Brașov, Romania, went straight to the General County Inspectorate of Police (IPJ) from Brașov to file a rape charge, claiming that a 24 year old man, also from Brașov, forced her to have sex with him on New Year’s Night.[1]
So, the Police from the No. 3 Station in Drăguș, where the alleged rapist was at the time, proceeded to arrest him and began conducting the investigation.
The press communication on the issue by the County Inspectorate reads as follows[2]:
Following the investigations[…], there is no doubt that the accuser had a long term relationship and was living in concubinage with the accused. Also, on December 29, the accuser, the accused and several common friends have rented the venue from Drăguș in order to spend the New Year night there. Following an argument with her concubine, an argument based on jealousy on her behalf, she proceeded in the morning of January 1, 2013 to leave the venue and file rape charges on IPJ Brașov.
Long story short, there was no rape. She sought vengeance against her lover for disagreeing with her and thus she made up a rape story.
The Police released the guy on January 2. He is lucky because he isn’t married to her and she was living in his house. So he can now throw her out. However, the Police were informed that filing a false allegation is still illegal in Romania. So they responded by giving her a 200 RON fine. That’s almost 60 US dollars or 45 euros. A slap on the wrist.
I said filing a false criminal allegation is still illegal in Romania because the new Criminal Code no longer incriminates the action of filing a false criminal allegation. In other words, a victim of a false allegation can only seek civil reparations.
However, the new Criminal Code isn’t in effect, yet. It still needs to be voted by the Parliament. The provisions of the current Criminal Code apply.
The ‘old’ Criminal Code, by which the Police should have judged in this instance, says, in Article 259[3]:
(1) Lying when filing a criminal charge claiming that a person committed a crime which in fact did not happen is punishable by 6 months to three years in prison.
(2) Manufacturing false evidence to support a false allegation is punishable by one year to 5 years in prison.
(3) If the one making false allegations admits that the allegations are false prior to the moment when a court appearance is made, the punishment can be reduced according to the Article 76.
Article 76 is the one dealing with mitigating circumstances and it’s the article that it’s constantly abused by police and the judges when it comes to female offenders. Article 76 reads as follows[4]:
The effects of the mitigating circumstances:
(1) In the case where there are mitigating circumstances to be taken into account, the main sentence for the defendant can be reduced or change under the following conditions:
a) when the minimum of the prison sentence is 10 years or higher, the punishment can go under this minimum, but not lower than 3 years of imprisonment; […]
d) when the minimum of the prison sentence is one year or higher, the punishment can go under this minimum, but not lower than one month;
e) when the minimum of the prison sentence is three months or higher, the punishment can go under this minimum down to one month or a criminal fine can be applied, but not lower than 250 RON.
What this 18 year old young woman did was in violation of Article 259, line (1) from the Criminal Code. She did not declare that the allegation was false (as the communicate from the police tells us), therefore granting her mitigating circumstances was illegal.
But even if we were to presume that she admitted to lying, under article 259, line (3), the provisions of the Article 76, letter e) apply to her, which means she should have received a 250 RON criminal fine and up to six months in jail. Instead, she was assessed 200 RON as an administrative fine.
The difference between criminal fine and administrative fine is simple: An administrative fine is just like a parking fine. In some cases, you can get away completely without even paying it. The criminal fine is placed on your criminal record and cannot be removed from there until two years after the maximum amount of prison time you could’ve got for the crime – which is, in this case, 5 years.
Having a criminal record means little to no chances of getting employment, little no chances of receiving meaningful welfare and if the police are having a zealous day, you might not even be able to leave the country. Romania, like the UK, still has its borders in place and they do check your papers when going in or out of the country.
The difference between a 200 RON and a 250 RON fine is meaningless. But the fact that she got away only with a minor fine (after all, crossing the street when the red light is on is punishable by 150 RON fine) is sending the wrong message: That filing false rape charges is a minor thing, just like crossing the street when the red light is on when you’re in a hurry or parking in the wrong spot because you didn’t see the ‘no parking’ symbol.
Once the new Criminal Code is in effect there will be no risk whatsoever for filing false rape charges. So is it any wonder that no sane person can believe the officials anymore when they say that the false rape allegations are rare?
This guy was lucky because the alleged rape happened at a party with a lot of friends around who stated that he could not have raped her without them seeing, even if he wanted to. However, most victims of false rape allegations aren’t that lucky, and usually end up having their lives screwed. To make things worse, those that end up being convicted based on false allegations get no reconciliation whatsoever, unless they die – like in the case of Marcel Țundrea[5].
[1] http://www.bzb.ro/index.php?page_name=stire_detalii&id_stire=80146
[2] http://www.realitatea.net/a-vrut-sa-se-razbune-pe-iubitul-ei-dar-s-a-ales-cu-o-amenda_1085613.html
[3] http://www.anp-just.ro/interna/Codul%20Penal.pdf – Criminal Code of Romania (Page 78)
[4] op cit Criminal Code – page 27
[5] http://www.nineoclock.ro/marcel-tundrea-case-justice-after-almost-20-years/
Feature Image: Roger O Thornhill
