Iran asks Romania to allow fact-finding team to probe judge’s death
Iran’s international police have requested to send a fact-finding mission to Romania to investigate the death of a fugitive Iranian judge in Bucharest.
Brigadier Hadi Shirzad, head of Iranian international police, announced on Saturday that they had sent a letter to the Romanian Interpol Police for permission and asked for additional information about the death.
The police also called for Judge Gholamreza Mansouri’s body to be returned to Iran.
“In order to investigate the situation of the scene of the incident and its exact cause, a team of Iranian police will be formed and if a positive response is received from Romania, they will be sent to that country," Shirzad added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday reports about Mansouri’s death.
According to the information Iran received from Interpol in Bucharest Mansouri had jumped out of the hotel window to his death.
Romania’s police said Mansouri had fallen to his death in what preliminary investigation indicated was a suicide.
Circumstances around his death are uncertain at the moment, but preliminary reports indicated that Mansouri apparently fell out of a window in the Duke Hotel at 2:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) on Friday.
The fugitive judge had visited Iran’s embassy in Bucharest to discuss possible ways to return to the country.
Iranian Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili announced on Saturday that the judge, accused of receiving €500,000 in kickbacks, had been arrested in Romania and his extradition had been disrupted over the coronavirus pandemic.
Mansouri, placed under judicial control, was due to appear before a Romanian court on July 10 regarding the Iranian extradition request.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Saturday that Romania had been urged to “explicitly, clearly and precisely” explain the conditions under which the fugitive judge had lost his life or had been killed.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has previously warned that he is being prosecuted and is pursuing his case through Interpol,” Mousavi said, adding, “We have asked the relevant authorities in Romania to explicitly, clearly and precisely report to us the cause and manner of the incident so that we can take further action.”
Mansouri was implicated in a major ongoing financial corruption case involving Akbar Tabari, the former deputy head of the judiciary for executive affairs.
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