{"id":8378,"date":"2026-01-13T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=8378"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:00:39","slug":"romanian-justice-minister-accused-of-plagiarism-denies-wrongdoing-threatens-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=8378","title":{"rendered":"Romanian justice minister accused of plagiarism denies wrongdoing, threatens lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Embattled Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu<\/strong> announced plans to fight plagiarism accusations<\/a> in the court during an interview given on Monday, January 12.\u00a0Specifically, the Social Democratic minister is considering a lawsuit to \u201cdefend his right to image and reputation\u201d following accusations that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis, which was completed roughly 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am considering to what extent I must resort to justice to protect my personal non-patrimonial rights: the right to image, to reputation,\u201d Radu Marinescu said during an interview on Romania TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marinescu rejected the accusations regarding his thesis made by journalist Emilia \u0218ercan, who specialized on politicians\u2019 plagiarized dissertations in recent years. He also ruled out resigning from the position of justice minister following the plagiarism accusations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAn accusation, regardless of the field in which it is formulated, is never synonymous with certainty of the commission of that act. An accusation in legal matters is validated only through a final ruling of a court,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

The Social Democratic Party expressed support for Marinescu, but the\u00a0accusation has created waves in the already uneasy ruling coalition, which includes center-right parties like Save Romania Union and the National Liberal Party. Raluca Turcan, a deputy from the latter, stated it is \u201cvital\u201d that no justice minister be vulnerable to blackmail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen similar situations recently in the public space. In the case of [former USR defense minister] Ionut Mo\u0219teanu, who was also involved in a controversy related to academic activity, the decision was a clear one: he said he did not want the ministry to be involved or affected, and he took a step back. Do you remember how the PSD reacted in that case? It demanded his resignation. Now, the PSD unequivocally supports its minister,\u201d she highlighted.<\/p>\n

According to her, the same standards should be applied to all members of the government, regardless of party.<\/p>\n

\u201cPSD must accept that it cannot benefit from special treatment in the case of plagiarism accusations against the justice minister,\u201d Turcan wrote on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In turn, journalist Emilia \u0218ercan said she \u201cbecame the target of a virulent online smear campaign, orchestrated by the PSD\u201d immediately after the publication of the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister of justice tried to shift the discussion from plagiarism to politics, claiming that the scandal was artificially triggered to block the procedure for selecting the heads of the prosecution offices that he initiated,\u201d she stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the 140 pages of Radu Marinescu\u2019s thesis are plagiarized is true today, and on Thursday, and in two weeks, and at noon, and at 5 AM. Plagiarism is not more serious or less serious just because Marinescu is trying to play the victim card. Radu Marinescu is not a victim in this story,\u201d the journalist added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Embattled Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu announced plans to fight plagiarism accusations in the court during an interview given on Monday, January 12.\u00a0Specifically, the Social Democratic minister is considering a lawsuit to \u201cdefend his right to image and reputation\u201d following accusations that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis, which was completed roughly 20 years ago. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}