A Romanian journalist whose house was searched on Saturday has been officially charged with collecting classified documents and passing them to other persons. Sebastian Oancea is a correspondent for the Bucharest-based "Ziua" newspaper.
"It is unacceptable to chase journalists and take them to tribunals, while there is no colonel under arrest in the case", said Oancea after the hearings.
The journalist’s lawyer said that the law invoked in this case dated from 1991 and turned any piece of information into a state secret. He expressed his surprise that the investigation targeted the journalists first and not the responsible ones with the protection of secret data.
This indictment follows similar charges against another journalist. Marian Garleanu, regional correspondent for "Romania Libera" newspaper, was charged with possession of secret documents and their sharing to other persons, arrested and freed after two days last week.
