Romanian Prime Minister Is Pressuring Courts to Convict, Says Political Prisoner's Son

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Alexander Adamescu:

"Prime Minister Victor Ponta has once again injected himself publicly into the unjust prosecution of my father in Romania in an attempt to pressure the courts," said Alexander Adamescu, son of Dan Adamescu, who is under house arrest in Bucharest on charges of corruption.

The elder Adamescu, a wealthy businessman and owner of the respected independent newspaper Romania Libera, was arrested on June 6 on charges of corruption. Ponta had long accused him of financing his main political opponent, President Traian Basescu, a charge Mr. Adamescu has denied. Dan Adamescu, who is in poor health, was finally granted house arrest on September 1 after being denied bail on eight separate occasions. In the meantime, his insurance company, Astra Insurance, has been placed under the control of state regulators.

In his latest public attack on Dan Adamescu, on Romanian television on October 3, Ponta said in relation to the seizure of Astra Insurance, "There was a cancer in the former institutions that supervised insurance, private pensions and the capital market, a cancer that evolved for seven years and that has protected the illegal businesses of a group led by Adamescu….I assure you that no one is coming forward on behalf of Mr. Adamescu, as happened before, and I hope the lessons learned from the past will be an example for the future."

Mr. Adamescu's son Alexander, who lives in London, issued the following statement after Mr. Ponta's remarks:

"The prime minister of Romania has once again injected himself publicly into the unjust prosecution of my father in Romania in an attempt to pressure the courts. The case against Dan Adamescu has been a political witch hunt from the beginning, in which Victor Ponta is using the courts to persecute and silence people he perceives as political enemies and is creating a climate of intimidation to dissuade anyone who would speak up on my father's behalf, much as Vladimir Putin has done in Russia. My father has led an honorable life and has never been associated with even a hint of scandal. He has long stood for transparency, clean government and close association with the West.

"The prosecution of my father followed several attacks on him by the prime minister, who has put pressure on the courts to treat my father harshly. He was denied the medical care he needed while in prison, and the prosecutor openly declared that he should be denied bail in order to shame him publicly. This only ended when my father's poor health became clear to the court, but he is still being denied the medical treatment he requires while he is under house arrest.

"This is a case of political persecution against someone who has acted honorably all his life and who returned to Romania after the fall of communism to invest in his native country and help guide it to democracy. That democracy is being undermined by a leader who attempts to control the courts and, ironically, has championed legislation that would give politicians immunity from corruption laws."

Prime Minister Ponta is running for president of Romania in elections scheduled for November.

SOURCE Alexander Adamescu