31 October 2015

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

The Public Information and Media Relations Office within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorized to bring to public knowledge the following:

 

In order to continue the investigations in the case dealing with the fire which broke out in the “Colectiv” Club located in Bucharest, which resulted in the death of several persons and the bodily injury of others, today, the 31.10.2015, a first part of the investigation at the crime scene has been conducted by a team made up of representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice – Section of Criminal Investigation and Criminalistics, Bucharest Police General Directorate (DGPMB) – Homicide, the Romanian Police General Inspectorate (I.G.P.R.) – the Criminal Investigations Directorate, the National Forensic Institute within the I.G.P.R., the Forensic Service of the DGPMB, together with specialists of the Forensic National Institute and INSEMEX Petroºani.

During the activities they performed material pieces of evidence were secured and they are to be used in clarifying the circumstances in which the events of 30.10.2015 took place.

The deceased were examined and identified at the National Forensic Institute (INML) and the authorities have information as to the identity of 21 persons of the 26 transported to the INML.

The persons taken to the hospital units were checked so as to see which of them can be heard.

At the same time, with the support of the judicial police officers within the Bucharest Police General Directorate (DGPMB) – Service for the Investigation of Economical and Financial Crime, the authorities verified the commercial activities performed at the club where the event took place.

Tomorrow, 01.11.2015, the activities for the investigation of the crime scene and identification of the deceased persons will continue and the forensic autopsies ordered by the prosecutor will be conducted.

The persons who might know anything about the circumstances and the way in which the events took place will also be heard.

We will inform the public opinion as to the actions undertaken in the course of tomorrow.

 

We mention that the initiation of the criminal investigation and the setting in motion of the criminal action are stages of the criminal procedure regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure, meant to create the procedural framework necessary to gather the evidence, activities which cannot, under any circumstances, breach the principle of the presumption of innocence.