Who Lies In The Munaf Case: Romanian or US Authorities?

An Iraqi court ruling a week ago, which condemned to the death penalty Mohammad Munaf for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq last year, took by surprise both Romanian officials and public opinion.

Authorities in Bucharest, at least, said last Saturday they knew nothing of the fact.

Not so, seem to prove documents released to Jurnalul national Friday by Munaf’s American lawyer, Jonathan Hafetz.

According to them, an American officer, Lt Robert Pirone, a lawyer with the Liaison Office to the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad, was in court to present Romania’s official complaint against Munaf.

Romanian authorities continue to deny knowing of the trial and of any foreign official representing Romania.

At least this is the position of the Ministry of Justice, according to Razvan Radu, head of the International Law and Treaties Division.

"The Ministry did not delegate any American officer to represent the Romanian Government in the Iraqi court," Radu said.

"It made no sense to do that, as long as Romania has its own jurisdiction over the matter, and the right to bring Munaf to trial. From the onset Romanian prosecutors conducted their own investigation and presented it to Romanian courts for trial. Both Iraqi and American authorities were dully notified," added Radu.

Both Romania and Iraq have the right to bring Munaf to trial as the crime he allegedly committed was perpetrated against Romanian citizens on Iraqi soil.

"We are faced here with conflicting jurisdictions, but never did Romanian authorities, be they courts or prosecutor’s offices, transfer their jurisdiction to the Iraqi authorities," Radu said.

The information relayed to Jurnalul national originated in the Thursday trial papers, in which the District Columbia Court rejected a request from Munaf’s lawyers to not hand him over to the Iraqi authorities for execution of the death-penalty.

The US court declined jurisdiction over the matter, stating that Munaf is in custody of the Multinational Force in Iraq.

Hafetz said Munaf will appeal the decision in a federal court, according to a Mediafax wire service dispatch.

In the motivation of the District Columbia Court decision, Judge Royce C. Lamberth reveals that piece of information Romanian authorities seem to know nothing about: that they have been represented in an Iraqi court by a US military.

According to Lamberth, Pirone stayed in court as a representative of the Multinational Force in Iraq, "to file an official complaint on behalf of the Romanian Government regarding the kidnapping which had Romanian citizens as victims."

Pirone made his deposition under oath in court and "the written mandate to officially represent the Romanian Embassy in Iraq was notary legalized and filed with the court a few weeks ahead of the trial date."

According to Pirone’s statement in court, he was present there solely to answer questions related to the case based on previous depositions made by the accused, and to file the official complaint of the Romanian side, in compliance with the Iraqi law.

Pirone also stated that Munaf and the other four people convicted to death sentences in this case had the right to file depositions, and that Munaf stated he was innocent and that his previous depositions incriminating him were taken under duress.

Prione also said that no other member of the Multinational Force in Iraq took part in the trial.

The document signed by Judge Lamberth also shows that "the Romanian hostages were freed in May 2005 following a raid of the troops under the command of the Multinational Force."

This piece of information comes also as a surprise, since it contradicts the statement President Traian Basescu made on May 22nd, 2005, when he said that the hostages were released as part of "an operation conducted 100% by the Romanian intelligence services."

The same US court documents show that the proceedings for transferring the convicted criminals from the Multinational Force custody to that of the Iraqi authorities last two to three weeks. A person condemned to the death penalty has 30 days to file an appeal with the Iraqi Court of Cassation.