PRESCRIPȚIA RĂSPUNDERII PENALE ȘI DREPTUL VICTIMELOR TRAFICULUI DE PERSOANE LA UN PROCES ECHITABIL
PRESCRIPTION OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY AND THE RIGHT OF VICTIMS HUMAN TRAFFICKING TO A FAIR TRIAL

Summary/Abstract: The lack of reaction of the legislator, who failed to correct some provisions with a particular impact on the prescription of criminal liability and the less uninspired interventions brought to some general provisions of the Criminal Code, which established the non-prescriptive nature of the crimes of trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons, represent legislative events that left their mark on the victim's right to a fair trial. These events, which have contributed to a visible reduction in victim protection standards, are likely to conflict with the provisions of Article 6 of the Convention, as, in many situations, they have compromised the state's positive obligation to investigate and sanction a series of serious acts repressed by the international legal instruments ratified by Romania. This situation manifests itself both criminally, by hindering efforts to apply effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions against the perpetrators of serious crimes, and civilly, as a result of probation difficulties generated by the passage of time. Failure to fulfill this positive obligation on the part of the state and the implications of a defective legislative policy leave their mark on the way in which the rights and freedoms guaranteed to the victims are respected in our country, but also on the collective security that the judiciary in Romania is required to protect. This conclusion is strengthened more and more by the fact that the crime is no longer seen as a simple violation of the laws, but as a harm to individuals and the community, so that deviating from the state's obligation to investigate, in the case of serious acts, represents a major failure of the state's criminal policy and an unfair signal for the victim of the crime, whose legitimate hopes depend to the greatest extent on the way criminal justice is carried out.

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