NRDO

Gabriel Andreescu, Ukraine. Putin's genocide as a "last resort"

Abstract: The study comments on Russian actions in Ukraine having as main, but not the only point of reference, the Report ”An Independent Legal Analysis of the Russian Federation’s Breaches of the Genocide Convention in Ukraine and the Duty to Prevent”, published at the end of May 2022 by a group of independent experts. It is constructed as a "convergent opinion" in relation to the the Report. It also raises additional issues such as the speed with which the international community has accused Russia of genocide, the relevance of the Holodomor to Russia's genocidal actions today, it comments on the intention to 'partially destroy' the Ukrainian people and on the relationship between political and identity motivations in the conduct of the war. The conclusion of the study is that initially, the Russian state's motivation regarding Ukraine was essentially political. Subsequently, the Putin regime changed the strategy of obtaining political control into a genocidal one. 

Keywords: Genocide, war, Ukraine, Russian Federation, An Independent Legal Analysis of the Russian Federation’s Breaches of the Genocide Convention in Ukraine and the Duty to Prevent

Liviu-Corneliu Popescu, The pretexts for Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine

Abstract: In order to justify its military action against Ukraine from the point of view of International Law, Russia has put forward three types of justification: individual and collective self-defence; strategic security considerations aimed at NATO enlargement and the use of nuclear weapons; and the prevention and repression of genocide. In reality, this is an unlawful use of force against a sovereign state, an act of aggression that constitutes an international crime, a serious violation of fundamental principles of International Law and other international commitments undertaken by Russia.

Keywords: unlawful use of force, act of aggression, self-defence, strategy, genocide

Dezideriu Gergely, Approaches of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in interpreting national law in the light of the text and scope of Directive 2000/43/EC in cases of discrimination on the ground of racial or ethnic origin

Abstract: In this article we ask ourselves whether the implementation of Directive 2000/43/EC in Romania, from the point of view of judicial protection, is to a larger extent a matter of how the supreme court makes use of the directive and interprets national standards from the perspective of this European piece of legislation and to a lesser extent related to gaps in the transposing legislation. We question some of the European Commission's conclusions on the need for a new evaluation of the anti-discrimination legislation in the Member States, and we ask ourselves a subsequent question, whether the supreme court tends to prefer national law or to overlook the European legislation in cases of discrimination, including when it comes to referrals to the Court of Justice of the European Union. 
In order to answer these questions, we have initially dealt with general issues such as the references to Directive 2000/43/EC in cases of discrimination before the supreme court, issues relating to admissibility, the scope of the directive and referrals to the Court of Justice of the EU. In our research approach, we have analyzed  over five hundred judgments of the High Court of Cassation and Justice from which we have extracted the cases that referenced the Directive, either by the parties or by the supreme court, and those cases concerning the legality of the decisions of the National Council for Combating Discrimination as those relate essentially to issues of discrimination. 

Keywords: The High Court of Cassation and Justice; Directive 2000/43/EC; discrimination; the criterion of racial or ethnic origin

Dragoș Pârgaru, The Impact of the European Court of Human Rights' Case-Law on National Authorities' Response to Tax Criminal Offences

Abstract: In this article, the author will extract from the European Court of Human Rights' case-law a selection of principles which are particularly important in the proceedings leading to punishing taxpayers' misconduct. Noting that general human rights principles are equally applicable in criminal proceedings relating to tax fraud, we do observe that, in the relevant case-law concerning such conduct, leading jurisprudence revolved around aspects as the applicability of the "criminal limb" of art. 6 of the Convention to tax misconduct and the effects of ne bis in idem in cases where both the tax authorities and the criminal courts have been involved in separate proceedings. Critical analysis of relevant case-law will reveal both clear and foreseeable criteria set out by the European Court of Human Rights, on one hand, and assessments that could lead to arbitrary future application of the Convention, on the other hand.

Keywords: human rights, tax criminal offence, tax fraud, administrative proceedings, criminal charge, ne bis in idem, double jeopardy