A Canadian arbitration tribunal forces Romania to hold the second round of the presidential election, according to Călin Georgescu's “affiliated” TV station.
NEWS: On Wednesday, Călin Georgescu's attorney announced in an exclusive statement for Realitatea PLUS that, based on a ruling issued by the Arbitration Commission, Romania is forced to hold the second round of the presidential election, according to the original 2024 calendar.
The Romanian government is thus forced to organize the second round of the presidential election “immediately and without debate”, Georgescu’s attorney said.
“A Romanian citizen residing in Canada, referred the election to an international arbitration procedure, and benefited from a court ruling that bears the final and enforceable apostille based on which the Romanian government is forced to hold the second round of the presidential election immediately and without debate”, the attorney said, in a telephone interview to Realitatea PLUS.
According to Mara Vasii, the ruling falls under the protection of the bilateral agreement concluded between Romania and Canada.
“Romania is forced to enforce this court ruling immediately and without debate”, the attorney said, noting that the entire administrative procedure is currently null and void.
“Romania has shown that it does not honor its status as a state governed by the rule of law. The judges have not honored the mission for which they were elected and for which they receive very high salaries. This is why, at present, foreign citizens who hold state authority, take action to set our affairs in order; they come to restore Romanians ‘dignity”, Maria Vasii added.
NARRATIVE: Romania is forced to hold the second round of the presidential election, based on a ruling issued by a Canadian court of law.
PURPOSE: To promote extremist, sovereignist and nationalist rhetoric. To undermine societal trust in state authorities, to stir and amplify social unrest.
The Romanian-Canadian agreement does not affect the rulings of the Romanian Constitutional Court
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The “final, enforceable, internationally-issued court ruling" invoked by the defense attorney of the former presidential candidate, Călin Georgescu, is in fact a legal proceeding that under no circumstances can overturn the decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania. Leaving aside the fact that Vasii “omitted” details regarding the name of the Romanian citizen who initiated the proceeding or the court that issued the ruling in question, we can note the blatant lack of knowledge of international law on the part of Călin Georgescu's attorney, especially when she refers to the Law no. 356/2009, based on which the Agreement between Romania and Canada for the promotion and mutual protection of investments was ratified. Contrary to Maria Vasii's claims, regardless of the form in which the ruling is presented, it cannot fall under the scope of that agreement, because it does not concern a dispute related to any investment made in Romania or Canada by citizens of the two states. In fact, arbitration courts settle disputes between natural or legal persons arising from or related to the execution of a contract between the two parties, and only if the parties have previously agreed that any disagreements be settled in that manner. Furthermore, Art. 13, paragraph 4 of the Agreement in question stipulates that, in the event of a dispute, the arbitration will be conducted by the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the institution that ruled in Romania's favor in the lawsuit filed by the Canadian company Gabriel Resources regarding mining operations in Roșia Montană, or will be subject to the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), an organization also headquartered in the USA, in New York. It is therefore more than obvious that a case such as the annulment of the presidential election cannot ever be subject to the jurisprudence of such a court, without taking into account how long the trial of such a lawsuit would take. Even if, absurdly, an arbitration tribunal in Canada did pass such as ruling, it would be merely an arbitration opinion, stripped of any legal effect, thus having no power to overturn a ruling of the Constitutional Court.
But the best argument that proves the information presented by Maria Vasii is false is the intervention of Călin Georgescu himself, who covertly distanced himself from the announcement made by his attorney. In a Facebook post, in the convoluted and almost meaningless language to which he has accustomed his audiences, Georgescu wrote that “the statement of attorney Maria Vasii represented a positive interpretation and was intended to inspire self-confidence in Romanian citizens in the diaspora and beyond. The action to which the attorney referred is related to the action of a law-abiding Romanian citizen in the diaspora who considered it absolutely justified to seek justice in an international court, after feeling disappointed with the lack of uprightness of Romanian courts of law”.
Călin Georgescu’s attorney, a controversial history
BACKGROUND: The technique of disseminating false information in Romanian media, borrowed from Russian propaganda, has seen a strong rise in recent times, especially in the context of last fall’s election campaign, becoming even more evident with the annulment of the presidential election, due to Russian interference and the failure to comply with electoral legislation by the former pro-Russian candidate with a legionary speech, Călin Georgescu. Romanian extremists close to the former candidate and self-proclaimed sovereignists, have accused the current government and former President Klaus Iohannis of establishing a dictatorship and encroaching on the “freedom of the Romanian people”. At the same time, they have been making efforts both at home and abroad to force the authorities to hold the second round of the presidential election.
According to the media, Maria Vasii, who represents the former candidate with a pro-Russian and legionary speech at the ECHR, has in the past defended several controversial Romanian politicians and businessmen, such as Gigi Becali and Cristi Borcea. Vasii also represented Liviu Dragnea and Dan Voiculescu in court. However, her client portfolio also includes other controversial figures, such as former policeman Cristian Cioacă, accused of murdering his wife Elodia Ghinescu, but also Teodosie, the archbishop of Tomis, a high-ranking high pro-Russian Orthodox cleric, recently disciplined by the Orthodox Church for calling Călin Georgescu “the messenger of God” and Vladimir Putin “a man of reconciliation and a church builder”.
This is not the first time that attorney Maria Vasii has made controversial public statements regarding the presidential election. In 2017, without specifying any names or providing any evidence, she claimed that a “judge died under suspicious circumstances, because he allegedly had obtained information regarding the unfolding of the 2009 presidential election”. Previously, appearing on a TV show, Vasii claimed that she had been cursed by the bishop of Huși, Corneliu Bârlădeanu, after defending in court Daniel Petru Corogeanu, the former priest from the Tanacu Monastery, sentenced to seven years in prison for the death of a nun whom he kept tied to a cross for three days during an exorcism ritual.
At the end of last week, Maria Vasii publicly launched another gross disinformation narrative, claiming that US prosecutors were conducting an inquiry in Romania related to the annulment of the presidential election, completely forgetting about jurisdictions and the same provisions of international law.
Realitatea PLUS, a TV station that is aggressively campaigning in favor of Călin Georgescu, has made a name for itself in recent years for launching several disinformation narratives and fake news, being fined several times by the National Audiovisual Council for willful violations of the law, homophobia or discrimination. Recently, the Council handed out four separate fines to the station owned by a former criminal convict for presenting fake news, making libelous statements and using ribald language
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