Report on the case of Constantin Ursu
On May 21st, 2003, two representatives of APADOR-CH went to the village of Sasa, Bacău County, to talk to Constantin Ursu about the circumstances under which he was shot by policeman Dănuţ Stanciu on March 25th, 2002. Ursu told them that on the evening of March 25th, 2002 he was drinking and playing pool with several people at the bar in Burchi (a village nearby Sasa). At a certain moment, police officer Dănuţ Stanciu came to the bar, accompanied by a member of the Local Council from Poiana. The policeman asked Constantin Ursu, who was playing pool, to show him some ID. Because he didn’t carry his papers with him, Ursu turned his back on the policeman and headed towards the table. The policeman grabbed Ursu by the shoulder, and in the hassle, took out the gun and shot a fire in the air. Constantin Ursu turned to the policeman and shouted: “Shoot!” and the next moment he was shot in the abdomen. The bullet pierced the abdomen, went out and stopped in the victim’s left arm. The wound was treated at the County Hospital in Bacău, and according to the forensic report Ursu required 40-45 days of medical care for his “transfixing abdominal gunshot wound”.
In March 2003, Constantin Ursu filed a criminal complaint against policeman Dănuţ Stanciu to the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Bacău. To this moment he received no answer.
APADOR-CH considers that the police officer Dănuţ Stanciu acted in an illegal and abusive manner when he opened fire on Constantin Ursu. The deed is all the more serious as there is no indication it was a case of “self-defense” (there is no record that Constantin Ursu was investigated for “outrage" against the police officer).
Valerian Stan Diana-Olivia Călinescu
