REPORT on the case of Mugurel Soare from Bucharest
In the evening of 18 May 2000, three non-commissioned officers from the Car Thefts Department were sitting in a car licensed under no. B 01 NJD (or NJO) parked several metres from the "Caritas" hospital in Bucharest. The police officers were dressed in plainclothes and the car did not bear any police marking.
Around 7p.m., they saw a man - Sorin Cutea - running towards the car. They stopped him and he told them that "two aggressors who wanted to kill him" followed him. When the Soare brothers - Mugurel and Vipan - got close to the car, the police officers stopped the former, hit him, bashed his head against the wall, then one of the police officers took his gun out and shot him in the head. Mugurel, who was driven to the emergency hospital, went into a coma. He came to after 5 days and underwent surgery twice until the end of June. The right side of his body is paralysed and he cannot speak. The doctors are sceptical regarding his chances to fully recover.
The non-commissioned officer who arrived at the hospital about two hours after Soare had been brought in, according to a witness, asked for medical assistance. He claimed he had been "stabbed with a knife" by Mugurel Soare. According to the press accounts, he had a scratch shaped like a "z" which required no medical intervention, not to mention admission to hospital. However, it was essential for the police officer to be able to invoke self-defence so that the resort to the firearm could be deemed legal.
Niculae Soare, Mugurel’s father, recounted the following: Sorin Cutea used to be married to one of his daughters. The two have a son aged 2. They separated, the woman returned home, and the child was left temporarily in his father’s care. The later tried to "convince" his wife to return to him several times – he even entered the Soare’s house by force to make her come back. In March 2000, Sorin Cutea, accompanied by several other persons, beat up Mugurel Soare. The victim complained to the police, but the aggressor left Bucharest. The Soares learned that he had been held by the Giurgiu police (they did not know on what charges) and that he had returned to Bucharest in May, after being released. In order to make sure he had returned to Bucharest, Mugurel and Vipan Soare went in the area of the "Caritas" hospital where Cutea’s father lives, to try to find his address. The Soares intended to call the police as soon as they got this information. Nicolae Soare said his sons did not have any knife. The two brothers saw Cutea in the street, near the hospital, but he saw them too and tried to run away from them. The two followed him until they came across the three police officers. Vipan continued to run after Cutea, but Mugurel was stopped by the police officers, hit and then shot in the head.
Alexandru Soare, Mugurel’s uncle, said he had gone to the emergency hospital as soon as he had learned about the incident. He met there the non-commissioned officer who had shot his nephew, who confessed to him that he had resorted to the firearm because "Mugurel had butchered one of his friends". Alexandru Soare asked if any other casualty had been brought to the hospital. The answer was negative. Alexandru Soare said there were no traces of blood on the non-commissioned officer’s shirt. The latter did not tell him he had been assaulted, either. A little later, the same non-commissioned officer said he had been Mugurel’s victim, showing that scratch shaped like a "z" on his abdomen.
Angela Vlasceanu lives across the street from the "Caritas" hospital. On that evening, she had found shelter against the rain in the hospital entrance, together with a neighbour, Dorel Baicu. When Baicu crossed the street, he saw at the street corner a civilian beating up another civilian and told Angela Vlasceanu to follow him quickly to see the fight. The woman also crossed the street and the two saw a civilian (the non-commissioned officer) bashing the other civilian’s head (Mugurel Soare’s) against the wall. When the latter was about to fall on his knees, the police officer placed his gun against the back of Mugurel’s head and fired one bullet from very close range. Mugurel fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Several persons gathered in a matter of seconds. Angela Vlasceanu caught the non-commissioned officer from behind and shouted to the people to call the police. She did not know – and neither did the other persons who gathered there right after the incident – that the aggressor was a police officer. The non-commissioned officer succeeded in getting rid of Angela Vlasceanu; he dragged Mugurel to the car, helped by his colleagues, and drove him to the emergency hospital, ignoring the witnesses, who told them to take Mugurel to the nearby "Caritas" hospital.
Angela Vlasceanu took a piece of chalk and until the police arrived (about ten minutes later) marked the area where the incident had taken place. Both Angela Vlasceanu and Dorel Baicu were taken to 10th precinct police, where they were held from 9p.m. to 7a.m. the next day, therefore for ten hours, during which time each gave two statements, one for the police and one for the military prosecutor. The two witnesses were under stress; they did not understand why they were held at the police station for such a long time, without being given at least a glass of water, and why they were – subtly – threatened by the investigating prosecutor (who told Dorel Baicu that he could be accused of incitement to scandal). Both witnesses stated that neither Mugurel nor his brother had knives.
The reconstruction took place 48 hours later. None of the 3 police officers involved in the incident attended the reconstruction. The Soares lodged a complaint with the Bucharest Territorial Military Prosecutor’s Office against the three police officers from Car Thefts.
Conclusions:
- as the non-commissioned officer from the Car Thefts Department could have been entitled to use the fire arm against Mugurel Soare only in self-defence, APADOR-CH urges the investigation bodies to establish fairly and clearly who wounded the police officer and when, especially as the eyewitnesses said the youngster did not have a knife and as no weapon was found. Moreover, the initial account of the police officer – that he had resorted to a firearm because Mugurel Soare had "butchered" his friend – proved to be false. Further on, the police officer used the z-shaped scratch to pretend he had been Mugurel Soare’s victim. On the other hand, on of the witnesses said that the police officer got to the hospital only about two hours after the incident, which means that the scratch could have been produced after he had shot Mugurel Soare;
- the association urges both the General Police Inspectorate and the Military Prosecutor Office to inquire how the two eyewitnesses were treated at 10th precinct police by the police officers and the prosecutor (whose name seems to be Rusu): they were held there for about 10 hours, without water, under stress and subjected to threats. APADOR-CH considers that this is an instance of inhuman and degrading treatment which amounts to the illegal deprivation of liberty of Angela Vlasceanu and Dorel Baicu;
- APADOR-CH wishes to specify that neither the Soares nor the witnesses realised that the three were police officers. Actually, the Soare brothers though they were "Cutea’s men". The association agrees that the police officers are entitled to work under cover in certain circumstances, but cannot accept that they could pose a threat to the lives of innocent people, who have committed no crime and have nothing to do with their assignment;
- The association wishes to raise a question related to the behaviour of the other two police officers: if Mugurel Soare assaulted their colleague, why did they not prevent him? If Soare did not assault him, why did they not prevent their colleague from resorting to his weapon?
Manuela Stefanescu