Romanian President Held Responsible for Murder

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is facing backlash over his failure to appoint a minister of the interior. (Wikimedia Commons)

Mihai Fifor, General Secretary of Romania’s governing Social Democratic Party (PSD), declared Romanian President Klaus Iohannis indirectly responsible for the suspected murder of an 11-year-old girl due to understaffing of the Ministry of the Interior. Digi24 reports that the child, Mihaela Adrianna Fieraru, was found dead on September 22, after being reported missing two days prior.

The alleged perpetrator is a 47-year old Dutch man who worked for an IT company and traveled to Romania frequently, according to the NL Times. His ex-fiancée told the NL Times that he held a previous record of multiple sex crimes and was institutionalized for mandatory psychiatric counseling after his sentence. The Public Prosecution Service would not comment on the man’s criminal record. 

The perpetrator reportedly committed suicide by swerving his car into oncoming traffic, although some locals question the police’s account of the event. According to the NL Times, the mayor of the city where the murder occured commented, “Everyone is terrified. People do not believe that the Dutch man is now dead.”

The Romanian president is being held accountable for the murder by his political rivals due to his failure to appoint a new minister of the interior following the previous minister’s resignation.

“The president’s refusal to appoint a new minister of interior has disrupted the activity of the Romanian Police,” General Secretary Fifor wrote in a Facebook post. After only a few days in office, the previous Minister of the Interior resigned due to political pressure following the murder of two teenage girls in July, Romania Insider reports. According to G4Media, Iohannis has yet to approve any of the Prime Minister’s nominated replacements.

These accusations arose ahead of the November elections, in which President Iohannis and PSD Prime Minister Viorica Dancila are the two favored candidates. In an early Europa FM poll, the incumbent president held a commanding lead of 44.6 percent, while Dancila received only 8.4 percent support. Without 10 percent of the votes, Dancila could be the first Prime Minister excluded from the second round of elections, according to Business Review. 

In response to Fifor’s allegations, G4Media writes, the PSD Vice President called Fifor “delirious” and a coward, blaming the PSD’s parliament for understaffing the Ministry of Internal Affairs and passing legislation that released over 14,000 detainees from prisons.

Despite local security concerns and the General Secretary’s comments, public perception of the President reflects his high poll numbers. He is popular on Twitter, where supporters have rallied to his defense. One user commented, “My President! Not perfect [because he’s a] human being but number one choice [for] Romania!”

It is unclear where the political blame will fall for this murder, and the impact it will have on the upcoming presidential election. Despite the ongoing investigation, the Minister of Internal Affairs has yet to be replaced.