Are you in a violent situation and need help? Call 0733948296
What steps can you take?
It is important to talk to someone you trust, to tell them that you have been the victim of an assault. Abusers usually hope that the victim will be too ashamed or scare to tell anyone and such assaults go unsactioned and are repeated. It is important to talk about the assault, both to get emotional support and because these persons can be useful witnesses if we make a complaint against the abuser.
It is important to access medical care as soon as possible. You need to get to a doctor as soon as possible so that you can get the medical care you need but also so that evidence of the assault can be identified and recorded.
It is best to go directly to a hospital, you should not change your clothes, avoid touching by other people (Ex: a situation of evidence damage - the victim's mother came with changes and helped the victim change her clothes which led to the alteration of biological evidence), do not wash, drink liquids or eat (situation of oral sex) so as not to remove the biological traces left by the perpetrator. It is also your right to receive emergency contraception and PrEP (treatment to prevent HIV/AIDS).
Afterwards, it is important to get a medical-legal certificate (Forensic medicine offices), ask about how you can get a forensic (medico-legal) certificate to the police, hospital, the people in the centre where you are, representatives of NGOs you are in contact with. This is an extremly useful evidence that records the aftermath of the assault and can be crucial in holding the perpetrator accountable.
You can ask for support from specialized NGOs for individual psychological counselling, legal counselling, legal representation/assistance in front of the police, prosecutor's office, court. You can also ask for support for medical assistance.
With regard to the typical variant of the offences, i.e. coercion of an adult person to engage in sexual intercourse, oral or anal sexual acts and any other sexual acts, it is necessary to make a preliminary complaint in order to hold the perpetrator criminally liable within a maximum of 3 months from the date of the offence.
In Bucharest and Ilfov - ANAIS Association can help you with interpreting, legal advice, psychological counselling, social counselling, assistance/representation before the police, prosecutor's office, court: 0733948296
Frequent questions
-
Ask for help! The Romanian authorities are obliged to intervene and offer you protection.
Don't know who to talk to about what's happening to you?
Call 112 and the police will intervene wherever you are!
Contact the Centre staff (if you are hosted in a centre/hotel/ hostel)!
Call the single number for victims of domestic violence: 0800500333 (available in Romanian, English)
-
The Law on preventing and combating domestic violence No 217/2003, republished with amendments, defines domestic violence as "any intentional inaction or action of physical, sexual, psychological, economic, social, spiritual or cyber violence, which occurs in the family or domestic environment or between spouses or ex-spouses, as well as between current or former partners, regardless of whether the aggressor lives or has lived with the victim".
A victim of domestic violence is a person who is prevented by a family member from exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms.
-
The victim of domestic violence has the right to:respect for his or her personality, dignity and privacy;
information on the exercise of his/her rights;
special protection appropriate to their situation and needs;
counselling, rehabilitation and social reintegration services, as well as free medical assistance, in accordance with the law;
free legal advice and assistance, under the conditions provided for by law.
-
The law defines "family member" as:
ascendants and descendants, brothers and sisters, their spouses and children as well as persons who have become relatives by adoption, in accordance with the law;
husband/wife and/or ex-husband/ex-wife; brothers, parents and children from other relationships of the spouse or ex-spouse;
persons who have established relationships similar to those between spouses or between parents and children, current or former partners, irrespective of whether or not they lived with the perpetrator, ascendants and descendants of the partner and their brothers and sisters;
the guardian or other person exercising de facto or de jure rights in relation to the person of the child;
the legal representative or other person caring for the person with a mental illness, intellectual disability or physical disability, except for those performing these duties in the exercise of their professional duties.
-
Physical violence is the most visible, but it is not the only form of abuse an abuser can inflict on a victim. Law 217/2003 republished penalises the following forms of violence: verbal violence, psychological violence, physical violence, sexual violence, economic violence, social violence, spiritual violence, cyber violence.
-
TEMPORARY PROTECTION ORDER (OPP)
PROTECTION ORDER (OP)
-
In order to prove the acts of violence to which the victim was subjected, he must present to the court several pieces of evidence, such as: documents, witnesses, medical documents, messages, audio recordings, etc.