Friendship and Immunity

A tragic incident highlights the volatility of Romania’s friendship with America.

BUCHAREST, Romania | A controversial decision by a U.S. military court demonstrated that Romania’s customary pro-Americanism can easily shift into its opposite. But it also raises troubling questions about the immunity of diplomatic and military personnel in foreign countries.

On 31 January, a jury at Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia acquitted Staff Sgt. Christopher VanGoethem, a U.S. marine serving as a security guard at his country’s embassy in Bucharest, of negligent homicide and adultery charges in connection with a car crash that killed a Romanian rock star. Adultery is a criminal offense under U.S. military law.

VanGoethem was found guilty only of making false statements to investigators and of obstructing justice. While he avoided a military-jail sentence or a dishonorable discharge, his military career is effectively over since he will not be allowed to renew his contract when it expires next year.

On 4 December 2004, Teo Peter, the former leader of Compact, one of Romania’s most famous rock bands, died when the taxi he was traveling in was hit by an armored car belonging to the U.S. embassy. The driver, Sgt. VanGoethem, who was the embassy’s security chief, had failed to yield to the taxi at an intersection where the cab had the right of way.

According to several witnesses, VanGoethem smelled of alcohol; he admitted during his trial that he had been drinking that evening. But Romanian police were prevented from properly investigating the accident as VanGoethem was whisked away by embassy representatives. And within less than 24 hours, he was taken out of Romania under diplomatic immunity.

All U.S. troops in Romania benefit from immunity under a 2001 status-of-forces agreement as well as under a so-called Article 98 agreement, which in effect obliges Romania not to extradite any U.S. personnel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Romania was the first country in the world to sign such an agreement with the United States; many others – including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Macedonia – have since followed.

Even though Romanian coroners established that the singer died of serious injuries sustained in the accident (his body had to be removed from the vehicle by a specialist crew), the sergeant wasn’t found guilty of Peter’s death. His defense argued that the victim died of causes unrelated to the accident, going as far as saying there was insufficient evidence that he was in the car at the time of the accident.

The defense pointed out that the prosecutor had failed to call the cab driver or the investigating police officer as witnesses, implying that the prosecution didn’t believe their testimony to be valuable.

Since the sentence cannot be appealed and VanGoethem is outside the reach of Romanian justice, the authorities and Peter’s family are trying to find a way to get satisfaction.

Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu called U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Taubman to express “the strong concern on the part of Romania for this case.” He also talked with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking for a solution “that offers Teo Peter’s family the possibility of regaining its dignity in a legal framework.”

The solution they’re looking for might be a civil lawsuit, from which VanGoethem wouldn’t be immune.

“I was more than surprised by the sentence and I want to announce that the government is ready to help by hiring an American law firm to proceed with a civil lawsuit,” said Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu after a meeting with the singer’s family.

Eugene R. Fidell, the President of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington, told Stars and Stripes (the official newspaper of the U.S. armed forces) that Peter’s family could sue VanGoethem but would not be able to compel him to appear before a Romanian court, or indeed to pay whatever damages he may be ordered to pay. The other option would be to sue the U.S. government, according to Fidell.

But Teo Peter Jr., the victim’s son, said he didn’t want money but “moral reparation.” He told the media, “My dignity, not only as my father’s son, but also as a Romanian, is at stake.”

President Traian Basescu was among the first to protest. “22 million Romanians saw Teo Peter was killed in the crash, but 22 million Romanians were not sufficient evidence for American justice,” he said.

Romania’s chief prosecutor, Ilie Botos, told the Mediafax news wire that he was angered by the verdict “as a jurist and as a human being.”

Referring to the immunity agreement, extremist politician Gheorghe Funar from the Greater Romania Party attributed the sentence also to the “servile attitude of the Romanian authorities who negotiated this treaty.”

Leading figures from the Romanian music community took part in a 9 February protest in front of the Romanian government building and asked the authorities to re-negotiate the agreement.

“The Americans taught us about solidarity: they showed us how a country protects its citizens. It’s time that we take the first steps towards this kind of solidarity too,” said Mihaela Mihai, the leader of the Romanian singers’ union.

Prominent journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu wrote in Gandul, “the United States proves it has the mentality of an imperial occupant ... no matter how many indigenous people he kills, a soldier from a superior race will never be tried by a local or international court of law.”

But these words were nothing compared to those of ordinary people. On radio and TV talk shows, on Internet forums, or during private discussions, Romanians expressed their anger at the sentence.

Referring to Americans, Radu Traian, 23, a student in the city of Timisoara, said, “I hate them. I used to like them, but not anymore. I have serious doubts over their understanding of democracy, freedom, and justice.” He added, “even our corrupted justice wouldn’t have dared to pronounce such a sentence.”

People are especially worried in places that are about to host U.S. military installations. An official from the town of Babadag said, “in the beginning we were happy [the Americans] were coming. We thought they were going to give an economic impulse to our region. But now I’m afraid, they could kill me or my family and get away with it.”

Calmer voices were drowned out by such feelings. Ioana Lupea, a columnist with the daily Evenimentul Zilei, wrote, “Romanians’ feelings are fluid. They want to get into the EU today, they hate Europe tomorrow; they respect the Americans today, and they hate their guts tomorrow. Temperamental people, they are tempted to find enemies among the foreigners when a compatriot suffers damage.”

As if Teo Peter’s death weren’t enough, a similar accident took place in Constanta, Romania’s second-largest city, a port on the Black Sea, in May 2005.

Virgil Brescan, 79, was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing and died two days later. The driver, a U.S. Army Reserve staff sergeant, was taking part in military exercises in the area.

But in that case, the U.S. soldier cooperated with the investigation. He agreed to be tested for alcohol consumption and answered all questions by the police. Nevertheless, Brescan’s son announced he would join a civil lawsuit since he doubted a criminal conviction.

According to a press release by the U.S. embassy in Bucharest, the investigation is still underway and the U.S. sergeant is currently waiting for the result in Germany.

Romanians were exposed for decades to communist propaganda that saw the United States as enemy No. 1. This followed the Allied bombing of Bucharest and the oil fields of Prahova region during World War II, when Romania was a German ally. (It switched sides in August 1944.)

But neither the bombing nor communist propaganda, which painted the United States as the ultimate enemy of socialist countries and a country dominated by poverty, drugs, and violent crime, really changed the positive view that many Romanians had of the country. “We believed, at least in the 1950s, that they were going to save us from the communists. At the noise of a plane we thought, ‘the Americans are coming,’” remembers Alexandru Panait, 75, a retired farmer from a village close to Bucharest.

When the communist dictatorship crumbled in December 1989, Romanians became even more pro-American. Entering NATO was soon a nationwide desire and, even though Romania’s candidacy was rejected in 1997, President Clinton was greeted that same year by enthusiastic crowds in Bucharest.

The first serious anti-American feelings came to the fore when NATO bombed neighboring Serbia in 1999. The NATO action was backed by the center-right coalition then in power, but the center-left opposition, nationalist groups, and most of the media were firmly opposed to the campaign.

But when Romania was given the green light in 2002 to enter NATO, the mood lightened again. It was mostly U.S. backing that had gotten Romania into the club. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bucharest to celebrate the invitation to join NATO together with President George Bush.

In order to show their gratitude, Bucharest officials sent troops to Afghanistan and then to Iraq. In the winter and spring of 2003, the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base was used by the U.S. army as a point of departure for Middle East battlefields. Two years later, the two countries signed an agreement regarding the establishment of several permanent U.S. military bases in Romania.

When Romania signed the deal exempting U.S. personnel from extradition to the International Criminal Court, the EU was furious and asked other accession countries not to follow the example.

Now, the United States has provoked a different kind of fury, this time among Romanians. The question is whether U.S. officials will be able – or indeed are inclined (the VanGoethem trial received little media play in the United States) – to do anything to redress the negative attitude toward their country in Romania and elsewhere.

If not, chances are good that Romania will join the group of countries generally described as having acute anti-American feelings.

The people of the Balkans are among the most excitable and volatile on Earth. But I think this will blow over eventually. One soldier killed one Romanian, yes, but in the past, America poured out blood and treasure to make Romania free.

When Romania signed the deal exempting U.S. personnel from extradition to the International Criminal Court, the EU was furious and asked other accession countries not to follow the example.

Did the Romanians also give up their right to punish US-millitary inside their borders or is this deal restricted to the ICC in the Hague??! To my information in Germany i.e. it was possible to put US-soldiers under German jurisdiction since 1950 if no official matters were concerned. Since the full sovereignty of Germany all US-soldiers in Germany underlie German law and can be punished if the German police is going to get them. BTW - Germany never gave up its right to extradite U.S. personnel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

If Romania gave up its right to prosecute American offenders on its soil, they should not whine around, since it was their very own decision to do so.

If I were Romanian, I'd be upset about this too. It sounds like the U.S. government did a very poor job of investigating this matter and prosecuting it. I can't understand why they'd do that -- drunk driving at a military base in the U.S. is a very serious matter, and it's a lot more serious if it causes injury or death.

I can't understand why the same standards (or even tougher standards) would be applied in the case of this Marine. What a screw up.

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