In the third court hearing of a major corruption case in Iran, more revelations were made about a fugitive judge who fled the country last year and is now in Romania.
One witness told the court, "We offered Judge Gholamreza Mansouri half a million euros (about $562,000), but he demanded more."
The Media Center of the Islamic Republic Judiciary cited the witness as saying that he initially met Judge Mansouri in the office of the primary defendant, former Deputy Head of the Judiciary, Akbar Tabari.
Judge Gholamreza Mansouri, who is accused of receiving more than half a million dollars bribe, left Iran in August 2019 and is currently in Romania. Iran has reportedly asked for his extradition, but a court in Bucharest has given the Islamic Republic until July 10 to present documents needed to justify extradition.
Presiding over the township of Lavasan, in a posh area of the capital city, Tehran, Judge Mansouri was notorious for issuing harsh verdicts against journalists.
Following the release of the pictures of Mansouri in recent days, a significant number of journalists have come forward on social media saying that the notorious judge was indeed responsible for their arrest and imprisonment.
Many Iranian journalists, activists and human rights advocates have called for Judge Mansouri's arrest in Europe.
They have compared Mansouri's case with a legal suit against another Iranian judge, Hamid Nouri, who is currently behind bars in Sweden. Nouri was accused of issuing numerous death sentences during the Islamic Republic's secret mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General and Executive Director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire, announced that RSF has filed a legal suit against Judge Mansouri in Bucharest, Romania.
Gholamreza Mansouri, currently released temporarily, does not have the right to leave Romania, a local court has ruled and will remain under police watch until final decisions are made about his legal status.
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