5 September 2017

Since the beginning of the year two cases of restriction of freedom of expression have generated a lot of debate in Romania. Cosmin Bîrsan, a young man from Odobesti, was fined because he posted on Facebook some critical remarks regarding the municipality’s activities. These posts were not an attack on the person, they were just ironic commentaries on the state of roads, questioning the controversial actions and affairs of Mayor's business. Another case with the same pattern took place at the beginning of the year. Following a Facebook posting in which a police car was filmed in a traffic slalom, seven people were summoned by the Târgu Jiu Police Force to be fined. One of them was the one who posted the video, the others were "guilty" of uploading comments. Although both video and comments were deleted, everyone in the end was fined.

Dilema Veche: read the full article in Romanian