Colectiv case won't start from zero; first 25 witnesses to be called to hearings in November

Mihai Balanescu replaced Mihail Valeriu Terceanu, the judge who first ruled in the Colectiv case and then retired from activity. 

On Monday, the new magistrate decided not to start the process all over again and not to hear again the three owners of the club - Alin George Anastasescu, Paul Gancea and Costin Mincu, who had already made substantial statements in court. 

As a novelty, the magistrate made all the defendants seat separately from their lawyers, in a corner of the court room, very close to him, in order for him to be able to see them better. 

Also as a novelty, participating in the process were two prosecutors - from the DNA (National Anticorruption Directorate) and the Prosecutor General's Office - considering that the file includes three indictments drafted by three different prosecutors' offices. 

The former mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone and also the three owners of the club challenged the statements made by the witnesses to prosecutors and asked that all witnesses to be heard at the Bucharest Court. 

The magistrate agreed that all the witnesses in this file will be also heard in court, with the first 25 of them being called on November 9. 

The judge announced that he will discuss at another trial date the requests filed by the victims' lawyers for him to order medical examinations, including examinations that will show whether the condition of the victims hospitalized in Romania was worsened by the nosocomial infections from the Romanian hospitals or not. 

In April 2016, the Colectiv case file was sent to court by the Prosecutor General's Office, first to the District 4 Court and then moved to the Bucharest Court. 

Sent to trial in the Colectiv case were the club's owners - Alin George Anastasescu, Paul Gancea and Costin Mincu; Daniela Nita - the owner of the fireworks company SC Golden Ideas Fireworks Artists SRL, Cristian Nita (manager) and Viorel Zaharia (pyrotechnician), as well as the legal entities SC Colectiv Club SRL and SC Golden Ideas Fireworks Artists SRL. 

Moreover, there were sent to trial the former mayor of district 4, Cristina Popescu-Piedone, three employees of the mayoralty: Aurelia Iofciu - head of the trade authorizations service, Larisa Luminuta Ganea - senior adviser, Ramona Sandra Motoc - senior officer, both employees of the same service, and also firefighters Antonina Radu and George Petrica Matei. 

The indictment drafted by the Prosecutor General's Office showed that the Colectiv Club owners "encouraged and allowed the access of much more people than admitted into the club, in the context in which the space did not have more than one fire escapes, and there were also a pyrotechnic show (fireworks) scheduled to take place inside the club located on the 7 Tabacarilor Street, district 4, that evening, while the decor was unfit for such type of activities, being made of easily inflammable materials, installed in breaking the legal provisions, in order to avoid additional costs (decor objects and soundproofing materials around the support pillars, walls and the ceiling, non-fireproof polyurethane foam), the consequence being the fire on the 30.10.2015 evening."

Agerpres