In the heart of Bucharest, a courtroom buzzed with anticipation as dozens of journalists gathered for an extraordinary press conference. The air was thick with tension, the only sound the whirring of camera lenses. At the center of this drama was Liana Arsenie, the president of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, surrounded by her vice-presidents and a sea of judges. But it was Raluca Moroșanu, a judge herself, who stole the show with her bold statement, 'We are simply terrorised. I can't describe the atmosphere here, how toxic and tense it has become.'
Moroșanu's words were a powerful declaration of the deep-seated issues within Romania's justice system. Her intervention was in support of a colleague who had been targeted after appearing in a documentary by the Romanian outlet Recorder, which alleged that a network of senior magistrates and politicians had 'captured' the country's justice system. The film, which used rare prosecutors' and judges' testimonies, claimed that this network used administrative manoeuvres to delay convictions in high-level corruption cases until they reached the statute of limitations.
The fallout from the documentary was immediate. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets, and nearly 900 judges and prosecutors signed an open letter warning of 'profound and systemic dysfunctions'. But six months on, meaningful reform has yet to materialise, and the allegations keep mounting. The crisis is unfolding against a volatile backdrop. In 2024, Romania's constitutional court annulled a presidential election over alleged Russian interference, a decision that deepened public mistrust in the country's institutions.
The cumulative toll is visible in the polls. A survey found that seven in 10 Romanians do not trust the justice system, and more than half believe the law is not applied equally. For Moroșanu, none of this is surprising. In an interview with the Guardian, she was frank about the scale of the crisis as she sees it. 'We are now in the worst moment the Romanian justice system has been in my 26-year career,' she said. 'The majority of magistrates are fair, competent and hardworking; what we see is not generalised corruption, but corruption at the top of the system.'
Moroșanu's words were a stark reminder of the deep-rooted issues within the justice system. Her concern was not about the majority of magistrates, but about the corruption at the top. She pointed to the series of major corruption trials involving politicians and businessmen that had collapsed after reaching the statute of limitations, despite extensive evidence. 'The justice system is in a deep crisis caused by the formation of groups within high-level courts, which have taken over administrative management power,' said Laura Ștefan, an anti-corruption expert.
The documentary's authors claimed that cases were repeatedly reassigned to new judging panels by court leadership just before rulings, forcing proceedings to restart and evidence to be reheard until they became time-barred. Members of the superior council of magistrates, the guardian of judicial independence, have been accused of being complicit. 'Who is supposed to protect us from the guardian, though?' asked Andrea Chiș, a former member of the council and a retired judge.
The council rejected the allegations, saying Romania's judiciary had been subjected to 'an unprecedented assault' aimed at destroying its reputation through false accusations of systemic corruption. An internal inspection had confirmed none of the claims in the Recorder documentary, it added. But Chiș argued in a 2023 study that justice reforms concentrated power in the hands of court leadership by expanding their authority and weakening oversight, creating a pyramidal power structure. 'It was a mistake to lift the mechanism,' he said. 'It was not good for our justice system and it took away the pressure from those in power.'
Successive reforms have left no effective mechanism to prosecute corrupt magistrates, observers say, with accountability efforts yielding barely any convictions in the past years. 'It's a tacit agreement between politicians and senior magistrates to block accountability for corruption within the justice system, while politicians, in turn, are granted impunity,' said Ștefan. As president of the supreme court and former head of the council of magistrates, Lia Savonea has been accused of being a prominent part of this alleged power structure.
Savonea denied the allegations, saying they were part of an 'obvious defamation campaign' against her 'based on forced associations and speculation regarding people and situations that have no real connection'. She added: 'I also emphasise that there is no finding or imputation regarding any interference in the administration of justice on my part.' But the allegations have had a profound impact on public trust in the justice system, and the crisis has only deepened.
The anger has spilled into the streets. Raluca Kișescu, a marketing consultant who joined the protests last year, believes trust is eroding beyond repair. 'A democracy without justice is a story with a tragic ending,' she said. 'It feels like we’re mice in electric shock experiments: we get used to each shock from a new Recorder documentary, we comment on it with our friends and then it passes.'
Moroșanu, who has been recused from two cases after fellow judges argued her public criticism of Arsenie showed a lack of empathy, does not regret speaking out. 'There’s still a chance that things might change if something happens this year,' she said, 'but if nothing changes now, things will never change.'
In the end, the crisis in Romania's justice system is a stark reminder of the challenges facing democratic institutions. It is a call to action for all stakeholders, from politicians to the public, to work together to restore trust and ensure that justice is served fairly and impartially.
