After postponing the delivery of the judgment twice, the Bucharest Court released on Monday, December 16, 2019, the sentence in file 17008/3/201 (“The Colectiv File”). Although more than four years have passed since the tragic event and magistrates have delivered the first verdict later than expected, we welcome the court’s decision and consider this moment an important step towards normality and justice. The case is, considering the amplitude of the damages, the complexity of the tragedy, and especially, the circle of guilty parties, unprecedented in the Romanian jurisprudence. From this perspective, although the process has evolved quite difficultly, the decision issued in December is ground zero from which we are convinced that the legal system shall provide more efficient answers to the questions related to the Colectiv incident. Last but not least, we hope that the final solution to be delivered by the Court of Appeal will be satisfactory and as close as possible to the legitimate expectations of the relatives and families of the victims.
The court ordered the conviction of the defendants from the Colectiv File to imprisonment, adding their obligation, including of the civilly responsible parties, to cover the damages caused to the victims and to the families of the deceased persons in the Colectiv Club, the total amount of damages reaching over 50 million euros, representing moral and material damages. The solution given in the first instance is the result of a criminal trial initiated in 2015, following the fire in the Colectiv Club, where 64 people lost their lives and several tens suffered from serious personal injuries.
Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners assists pro bono 45 civil parties in the Colectiv file, both survivors and relatives of the victims. The team of lawyers, coordinated by senior partner Călin-Andrei Zamfirescu, is made up of Doru Cosmin Ursu, senior associate, and Ionuț Chisăr, associate.