UNA CU NATURA
To understand the abuses that followed the attempted murder at Râul Alb, it's good to recall the context: it was 2015, the year when justice was served in the name of “national interest” from the living room of General Gabriel Oprea, then Minister of the Interior. Those who understood how the “State” functions know that in every county there was a local “living room.” From Hunedoara, Daniel Răducanu was co-opted into “big politics,” where it is well known that certain interest groups make the rules, and political beliefs matter less (video 11.1).
When I came out of the hospital, I found out from Coman Nelu, Vințonescu Gabriel, Lascu Liviu and Lascu Cornel that Leordean confessed immediately after the attempted murder that they had been sent by the mayor of the Baru commune, Daniel Răducanu. Lascu Liviu confirmed to reporters from Antena 1 that he heard Leordean Vasile admit that he, Sara – his sister, Andrioni, and Sălășan Luca had been sent by ...someone (the mayor Răducanu, ed.) from Baru Mare. The testimony was removed from the criminal investigation, although it had been recorded by the Gendarmerie team. The mayor's friend made these statements in a moment of honesty, when both groups were shaken by the tragic situation and were waiting for the field investigation to begin. The lies only began to flow after they recovered from the shock. In their first written statements, they lie that we attacked first and that I threw myself in front of the car, and later they timidly claim they didn’t see the moment I was taken onto the hood. The first testimonies collected by the gendarmes clearly show that the violence was provoked by the environmental agitators. They say it themselves in a video that was never broadcast publicly by the media. Leordean Vasile: “They arrived with the ATV, came right in front of me, (and) when they got in front of me, I then jumped on the car and punched the windshield of the ATV...”, admitting he had a provocative attitude. Also, the mayor’s friend, visibly shaken by what had happened, explicitly says that Andrioni ran me over with the car (video 11.2).
Two Police Officers Working Toward a Case Dismissal
After Andrioni ran over me with the Jeep, I couldn’t feel my body and was breathing heavily. I realized I was seriously injured and told those around me not to move me. I fainted and woke up in the SMURD ambulance, which picked me up at 13:20. On the way to the hospital I fainted again and woke up in the ER at Hațeg. There, the doctors diagnosed me with “post-traumatic paraplegia” and requested my transfer to the county hospital for CT scans. An ambulance with a doctor transferred me to Deva County Hospital, where I arrived at 16:20. There, I was diagnosed with: “fracture of cervical spine C6–C7 with spinal cord compression, fracture of inferior articular process C6 and superior C7 on the left side; fracture of transverse process C7 left” (doc.1). From that moment it was known that my chances of survival were very low. My health was deteriorating, so an emergency transfer by helicopter to the university hospital in Cluj for surgery on the cervical spine was arranged. At 17:49 I was transferred to the heliport inside the Hunedoara County Police Inspectorate. I was still in a state of shock, semi-conscious. The doctors and pilots were rushing to lift the helicopter off the ground as a storm was coming and there was a risk we wouldn’t be able to take off. At the helicopter steps appeared two police officers not connected to the case: Chief Commissioner of Police Marcel Zaharie and Chief Commissioner of Police Remus Sabău. The two were part of the leadership of Hunedoara County Police, but neither had jurisdiction to conduct investigations in the criminal offenses at Coroiești. According to the delegation order issued by the prosecutor on 24.05.2015, the investigative acts were to be carried out by the Judicial Police within the Criminal Investigation Service, from the Hațeg Town Police and from the 7th Rural Police Section of Baru. The police officer from Baru, who conducted the field investigation, says who actually coordinated the investigation: “Mr. Zaharie knows, it was reported. I didn’t talk to Mr. Sabău, they talked to Mr. Zaharie. The section chief reported and said who was coming: the guys from judicial from Deva, from forensics. We’re waiting for them any moment now.” What seems very suspicious to me is the manner and suggestive questions posed by those two police chiefs, considering the condition I was in.
Chief Commissioner Remus Sabău – left; Chief Commissioner Marcel Zaharie – right
From the report they submitted to the criminal case file, it’s clear they put words in my mouth—words I couldn’t have said.
“Question: Did you stand in front (ed. of the car) to stop him?
Answer: Bocea Mihalache: Of course, I was on my own land and stood in front.
Question: You stood so he wouldn’t go on, so he wouldn’t continue?
Answer: Yes, this one (ed. Andrioni) was (ed. on my land), just like the construction site signs say, right there” (doc.2).
The report says that Inspector Dan Nicolae Adrian was also present, although he was at the Hațeg police station at that time. Moreover, even the signature of Officer Dan on the report is a forged caricature compared to the signature he placed on all the other documents that afternoon. Why was Officer Dan Nicolae Adrian’s signature needed? To give a false appearance of legality to the abusive interrogation conducted by the two chiefs of Hunedoara IPJ. The way the answers (supposedly mine) were written proves I was not coherent at the time. As for the insistence and suggestive nature of their questions? To me, it’s very clear that they had already received the “order of the day for the unit” to steer the investigation in favor of the fake environmentalists. “The dead man had to be guilty.” That is the real reason why those two police commissioners tried to force from me a “confession” that I stood in front of the car to block it. In fact, that report should not have made it into the criminal case file.
What Testimony Needed to Disappear?
After I was picked up by the SMURD crew, at the site of the attempted murder a confession was made that would later be removed from the criminal investigation. It was 15:48. A Gendarmerie team arrived and asked several questions to participants in the 13:00 incidents. All discussions were filmed by one of the gendarmes, but nearly six minutes of footage are missing from the material submitted to the investigation authorities. We can assume the parts implicating the former advisor of Elena Udrea – Mayor Daniel Răducanu – were deleted, and that could have only happened with the complicity of the authorities. Despite our efforts, the Gendarmerie refused to submit the full recording. Nor did the prosecutors ask for it in time. After three years, the Gendarmerie simply communicated that the files were deleted in accordance with the data storage protocol. Thus, another key testimony disappeared from the case file. During the episode filmed by the Inspectorate of Gendarmes “Decebal” Hunedoara (formed of three gendarmes), present at the scene were eye-witnesses to the attempted murder: Coman Nelu, Coman Neluțu, Bocea Adrian, Lascu Cornel, Vințonescu Gabriel, Leordean Vasile, Leordean Sara, Sălășan Luca. Also there were police from the Baru Mare post and five locals: Lascu Liviu, Lascu Achim, Băltean Victor, Băltean Nicoleta, and Coman Vasile. Leordean Vasile’s statements were made in a moment of honesty, when he realized how tragically things had turned. As said, there were many witnesses (villagers, police officers, and gendarmes) who heard what Leordean Vasile declared. That episode should have been in the gendarmes’ recording, but it disappeared and could not be recovered despite all requests made by our lawyers. The reason is the same as in the case of the other recordings: to hide evidence confirming the intentions and actions of the agents of influence responsible for the attack at Râul Alb.
How Did They Get Rid of the “Inconvenient” Evidence?
The Gendarmerie recording was submitted to the attempted murder case file on June 2, 2015, but we note that it is divided unnaturally into four parts, numbered as follows: (00791MTS) 15:48:52 – 15:49:55; (00792MTS) 15:50:39 – 15:51:02; (00793MTS) 15:51:29 – 15:55:36; and (00794MTS) 15:59:58 – 16:01:17. Chronologically speaking, three segments are missing from the footage, totaling 5 minutes and 55 seconds. During my hearings, I informed investigators about Leordean Vasile’s confession and that there were missing parts from the gendarmes’ video. All requests were ignored for more than three years. Only after the case was taken over by a third prosecutor, when the criminal investigation was concluded, did Prosecutor Mihai-Eduard Ilie ORDER the submission of “all recordings.” In the ORDER from 15.11.2018, Prosecutor Ilie admits that something is wrong with the footage submitted by the Gendarmerie: “The file contains a data storage device – DVD no. 451SCTI21 from 02.06.2015, containing recordings and photographs taken on site by a gendarme team from the Hunedoara County Gendarmerie Inspectorate ‘Decebal’; examining the video recordings reveals that some of them appear to be missing” (doc.3). It was too late... The attempt (or simulation?) to recover the removed/erased evidence occurred when nothing could be recovered anymore. Through an official address, IJJ Hunedoara stated that the recordings had been deleted TWO months before the Prosecutor’s request, upon the expiration of the 3 years and 3 months deadline since being registered in the evidence log of evidentiary activity. “Attached we forward a copy of report no. 2570944 from 04.09.2018 by which the files from May 2015 were deleted” (doc.4).
There Are No Coincidences…
There are only less-clarified facts that give the impression they overlapped accidentally, randomly, and inexplicably. In reality, the pieces fit. It is no coincidence that agitators from Baru – a neighboring commune of Râul Alb – were recruited into the “Local Division of Provocateurs.” This commune was led by Mayor Daniel Răducanu. He admitted in the statement given to the prosecutor that he knew before the incident: Leordean Vasile, Leordean Sara, Sălășan Luca, and Andrioni Alin: “I’ve known Leordean Vasile for many years as he is married to a girl from Livadia village, Baru commune, and we are friends” (doc.5). Regarding Sălășan Luca, the man who sent monitoring reports to Călin Dejeu, we know he lives in Baru Mare and is the godson (and friend) of the mayor of the Baru commune, where a microhydropower plant was built in the protected natural area that includes Râul Alb. It is obvious that Sălășan knew about the existence of the MHC in his commune, especially since there was a scandal over it, involving local councilors and his godfather. The mayor had been accused by councilors of signing documents in favor of Italian investors in the microhydropower plant on the Bărușor River, without passing them through the local council: “Mayor Daniel Răducanu, accused of working in the interest of the smart guys in energy, ended up with a criminal complaint because he used his position as ruler over the Baru commune to be useful to a patron who built a microhydropower plant in the area” (art.1). The former advisor of Elena Udrea secured European funds to build a five-kilometer forest road. From the local officials’ accusations, we understand that the real purpose of building the road was to facilitate the construction of the MHC’s water adduction. Coincidentally, the adduction is also five kilometers long and overlaps exactly with the communal road. Normally, these are two distinct projects and should not have overlapped for at least five years. In practice, Răducanu’s road spared the MHC investors of much of the adduction cost. From here we can infer a “special” relationship was born between the mayor, the Italian investor, the MHC builder, and the road constructor. Following this “success” formula, in 2014, their appetite for microhydropower plants grew. We were the first target, being the immediate neighbors. It is well known that PDL member Daniel Răducanu is one of the most influential people in the area, and that explains the abuses that followed.
The abusive behavior of the “volunteers” who contributed to derailing the investigation, even before I was boarded onto the SMURD helicopter, entitles me to believe that punishing the criminal was never intended, so as not to reach the people who incited the provocateurs.
