The conditions of typicity of the offense of false testimony are met when the witness refuses to give statements

On Monday, March 23, 2025, the High Court of Cassation and Justice – the Panel for the Resolution of Questions of Law, legally constituted, delivered the following ruling:

By Decision no. 54/2026, the HCCJ admitted the referral submitted by the Bucharest Court of Appeal – Criminal Division I, in case no. 11935/3/2024, requesting a preliminary ruling on the following question of law:

“In the interpretation of the provisions of Article 273 of the Criminal Code, are the constituent elements of the offense of false testimony met in the case where a person summoned as a witness in criminal proceedings refuses, before or after taking the oath, to make any kind of statement?”

Consequently, the Court established:

In the interpretation of Article 273 of the Criminal Code, the conditions of typicity of the offense of false testimony are met where a person summoned as a witness in criminal proceedings, after being informed of the facts or circumstances for the proof of which their hearing was ordered or approved, as well as of their procedural obligations, refuses—before or after taking the oath or making a solemn declaration—to give statements, and does not fall within any of the cases provided for in Article 116(3), Article 117(1), and Article 118 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

This ruling is binding from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, pursuant to Article 477(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In essence, the HCCJ held that the conditions of typicity of the offense of false testimony are fulfilled in the case of a total refusal by a person summoned as a witness to give statements in criminal proceedings, whether before or after taking the oath or making a solemn declaration, provided that the witness has been informed of the subject of the hearing and the corresponding procedural obligations, and does not fall within any of the legal exceptions to the obligation to testify.

Source: juridice.ro