Roma court conflicts with rule of law

The self-appointed king of the Roma, Florin Cioabă, opened a Roma court in the Romanian city of Sibiu at the end of February, the judges of which are all old and wealthy Roma. So far disputes between Roma have not been settled publicly. The weekly Dilema Veche says the Roma court contravenes the Romanian constitutional state: "In a community in which strict social control prevails, the guilty generally are punished. But what they are guilty of is not necessarily an offence in the modern Romanian state, for example being unfaithful to one's spouse [the most severe punishment for the Roma in this case is banishment from the community]. Were there victims? Women who have been beaten? Minors forced to marry? We don't know because we weren't present at the proceedings. ... Marriage between two minors is a tradition of the Roma community ... and must be defended by Cioabă's multicultural court. Yet such a marriage is illegal according to the Civil Code."

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