The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday there was no violation of human rights in a corruption case against former  Romanian Member of the European Parliament Adrian Severin.

In 2011, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Romania initiated an investigation against Severin, who was suspected of accepting a payment of 100,000 euros for supporting proposed draft amendments on Directive 94/19/EC in the European Parliament. Two journalists from the British broadsheet The Sunday Times discovered this bribery while conducting a journalistic investigation on several members of the Parliament. After the European Parliament lifted Severin’s parliamentary immunity, the prosecution brought the case to trial in 2013 for passive bribery and trading in influence. In the case at a national level, sufficient evidence was brought against Severin, including recordings and interviews with the two British journalists. The court in Romania sentenced Severin to three years and three months in prison. This decision was appealed without success in 2016.

After exhausting all domestic remedies, a requirement for admission to the ECHR under Article 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicant brought a case before the ECHR based on Article 6 of the Convention. Severin first argued the journalists acted as “agents provocateurs,” meaning they were politically influenced to induce the applicant to commit a crime and be arrested. Secondly, he complained the use of recordings as evidence was not sufficiently verified and that the fact that the journalists were heard as witnesses by video-conference was unfavorable to him.

The ECHR dismissed all these claims, holding that there was no violation of Article 6. The article protects the rights of individuals to a fair trial, including the right to examine witnesses. The court ruled the journalists acted as private individuals, with no evidence of political influence. Moreover, the criminal proceedings were fair and gave the applicant sufficient rights to exercise his defense.

With this decision, the court exposed a level of corruption in the European Parliament. This institution had already issued a decision to push for stricter measures and penalties against corruption at the beginning of this year. As Rapporteur of the Parliament, Ramona Strugariu, stated: “Corruption…erodes democracy, undermines trust in public institutions, and deprives our citizens of the opportunities and services they deserve.”