Bucharest, July 15th 2016. The European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) has notified the Superior Council of Magistracy regarding the delay of the judicial process in the criminal case of a girl with Down Syndrome from Bucharest, assaulted in a special school, that has lingered for 2 years and 5 months.
In February 2014, Clara’s mother filed a Criminal Complaint at the Prosecutor’s Office against the teachers from the Special School no. 11 in Bucharest, following the physical and verbal assault of the girl in the aforementioned school. The case file contains evidence of bad treatment applied to the underage girl, respectively a Forensic medical report for the physical injuries suffered by the girl, a post-traumatic psychological assessment, pictures of the injuries and other records.
In March 2014, Clara and her mother were called for hearings by a criminal case officer at the Police Station 25 in Bucharest, in the presence of a chosen defender. The hearing of the two aimed mainly to assert the child’s lack of speech by a case officer with no special training and with non-compliance to minimal standards of interaction with a child with disability.
After this hearing, for 2 years and 5 months, authorities have kept quiet in respect to the evolution or stage of the investigation. In a desperate attempt, in June 2016, the minor’s mother requested information from the Prosecutors’ Office District 5 regarding the stage of her daughter’s the criminal file.
In a terse response, the Prosecutors’ Office informed the requester in July 2016 that the file is “being dealt with” by the prosecutor starting with July 6th 2016.
Equally, none of the notices addressed by CEDCD to the Ministry of National Education (MENCS) and Bucharest’s School Inspectorate (ISMB) have received any answers, with no measures being taken at the Special School no. 11.
In spite of the fact that the abuse suffered by the underaged child in the special school deprives her of her constitutional right to education, the competent and responsible authorities for the legal and administrative settling of the case have kept quiet for over 2 years. We believe that the delay of the judicial process in the case of a vulnerable minor is a particularly serious act, which perpetuates the state of abuse and isolation to which the minor is exposed and which proves once again the inability of the state to protect one of the most vulnerable social categories: children with disabilities.
CEDCD expresses its serious concern regarding the unduly lengthy duration, 2 years and 5 months, time in which the minor had no access to an effective legal remedy, in a particularly serious case which questions the physical and emotional integrity of a child, her constitutional right to education and dignity. The delay of the justice process in a case with vulnerable minors constitutes an infringement of fundamental legal principles regarding the required speed for such cases, and of the provisions of Article 99 (1) of Law no. 303/2004 regarding the statute of judges and prosecutors.
Furthermore, the absence of administrative measures following the notices submitted to MENCS and ISMB and the absence of information for CEDCD in respect to the adopted measures reveals the contempt of authorities towards legal provisions and rights of children with disabilities.
“I strongly believe that in the quagmire of bureaucracy and interests in Romania, children with disabilities are just some irrelevant numbers to authorities. Two years and a half since Clara was beaten and sedated in a special school are not just a delay, but a defiance of an innocent child, a silent victim of a careless system, which steps over legal principles, values and norms, while other thousands of children suffer in silence, isolated in social schools and institutions, because the long arm of the law never reaches them”, states Mădălina TURZA, ECRCD president and Clara’s mother.
Contact person:
Madalina TURZA
Email: madalina.turza@cedcd.ro
Mob:0737545955
Fax: 021/7952465
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