Romania's Chamber of Deputies, as the first chamber consulted, endorsed the draft law that abolishes the Section for the Investigation of Crimes in Justice (SIIJ).

The deputies endorsed the bill with 171 votes against 136, Digi24.ro reported. The Senate is the decision-making chamber for this bill.

The deputies passed the bill in the form received from the Legal Commission, including the controversial amendment stipulating that magistrates can be prosecuted only with the approval of the magistrates' body CSM. The amendment was promoted by the ethnic Hungarians' party UDMR.

The opposition Social Democrats (PSD), who supported the creation of SIIJ - a body set up to investigate corruption cases among magistrates - do not support the bill and argued in favor of maintaining SIIJ as it is.

PSD deputy Simona-Maya Teodoroiu stated on Wednesday, during the debates on the bill, that PSD did not vote on the project to abolish SIIJ and that her party will refer the bill to the Constitutional Court exactly on the grounds of the amendment that requires CSM's opinion for the prosecution of magistrates.

"More than 1,000 magistrates across the country have addressed a memorandum to the Chamber of Deputies entitled 'Clean magistracy needs no impunity filters', urging members of the Chamber not to vote on the draft in its current form with the amendment," said the PSD deputy.

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andrei@romania-insider.com