[JURIST] Romania’s Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the man who originally introduced the corruption decree that sparked large protests [JURIST report], announced [Reuters report] on Monday morning that he would soon publish details of an alternative bill to update the criminal code. However, confusion surrounds the announcement as shortly after Iordache’s announcement the Justice Ministry [official website, in Romanian] issued a statement that there was no such plan to draft another bill. Although the corruption decree has been repealed, the Romanian Parliament [official website] is still scheduled to review a decree that would free 2,500 prisoners serving sentences of less than five years. Approximately 2,000 of the prisoners were arrested for abuse of power. The government has argued that this decree is still necessary to avoid prison overcrowding. However, critics argue that this decree is a political move to get friends of Livui Dragnea, the leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party, out of prison.

The controversial decree was passed [JURIST report] on Tuesday, sparking immediate demonstrations. The decree was originally drafted on January 18. The following day, the government published a draft of a plan to reduce prison overcrowding [JURIST report] that involved pardons for thousands of prisoners, which was met with protests around the country. The government insisted that a referendum [JURIST report] on the government’s plan to pardon the prisoners was needed despite protests. The decree was repealed [JURIST report] on Saturday, but protests continue in many parts of Romania. In a statement following the repeal, the government noted that it had heard the voice of the street and did not want to divide Romania. Many of the demonstrations [Al Jazeera report] are calling for the government to step down, despite the repeal of the decree. In 2015 Romania’s Superior Magistrates’ Council rejected 22 proposals that would have made it harder to fight top-level corruption [JURIST report].