首相の論文盗用告発、記者に国家ぐるみで嫌がらせか　ルーマニア

【ブカレストＡＦＰ＝時事】ルーマニアのジャーナリスト、エミリア・セルカン氏（４６）は、国家トップレベルでの盗用を暴くという使命を自らに課している。（写真はルーマニアの首都ブカレストでＡＦＰの取材に応じるジャーナリスト、エミリア・セルカン氏）
　ブカレスト大学の教授（ジャーナリズム）でもあるセルカン氏は、過去７年間に約５０件の盗用を見つけた。閣僚や検察官、裁判官らが、書籍や科学論文、博士論文の執筆に際して規則を破ったことを白日の下にさらしてきた。
　軍出身のニコラエ・チウカ首相（５５）が２００３年に提出した軍事学の博士論文もその一つだ。１３８ページ中４２ページで盗用があったことを暴き、１月半ばに独立系メディア「プレスワン」で調査結果を公表した。
　セルカン氏はそれ以来、ソーシャルメディアで中傷とヘイトスピーチの標的となっている。
　「こんなふうに標的にされたことはこれまで一度もなかった」とセルカン氏。脅迫を受けたとして、警察に２回届け出ている。
　チウカ氏は、当時の学界の規則は順守しているとし、疑惑を否定している。

■信用失墜作戦
　セルカン氏は２０１９年にも、警察学校の博士論文での盗用を暴いたことで殺害予告を受けた。
　今回は、２０年余り前に婚約者に撮影してもらったプライベート写真が盗まれ、流出した。同氏が警察に流出写真のスクリーンショットを提出したところ、その画像はすぐに隣国モルドバのウェブサイトで公開され、７４のサイトに転載された。
　セルカン氏は、自身の信用失墜を狙い当局が「中傷情報作戦を仕掛けた」と非難している。
　検察は刑事事件として起訴した。だが、セルカン氏は捜査は進展していないようだとし、「国家のトップレベルが（捜査の）進行を阻んでおり、この件を葬り去ろうとしている」と訴えた。
　検察はＡＦＰの取材に対し、捜査は開始され、継続中だと話した。
　国境なき記者団（ＲＳＦ）など報道の自由を掲げる１０の団体は、セルカン氏に対する「嫌がらせに懸念」を表明するとともに、徹底的な捜査を求めた。
　チウカ氏率いる与党・国民自由党（ＰＮＬ）は、セルカン氏は盗用を暴露するのに「誤った時を選んだ」と指摘。ロシアが隣国ウクライナに侵攻しているさなかに国内の不安定化を企図していると非難しているという。
　ルーマニアでは、盗用問題の調査に当たる独立機関の廃止が盛り込まれた新教育関連法案も批判を浴びている。同法案では、学術分野における不正行為の告発について３年の期限が設けられた。
　ルーマニアは欧州連合（ＥＵ）内で最も腐敗の度合いが高い国の一つとされており、民主化後の社会では、学術分野の不正が一定の地位を占めてきた。
　学術不正問題を専門とするクルージュ大学のチプリアン・ミハリ教授は、「共産主義体制崩壊後の１９９０～２０００年に大学が急増したこと」が問題の根源にあると語った。博士号の取得が権力の座への鍵となっているという。
　「（博士号の）乱発体制とネットワーク」によって「不適格な人材が重要な地位に」就き、批判をものともせず権力の座に居座ることがまかり通っていると指摘した。
　ルーマニアではビクトル・ポンタ元首相も２０１２年に英科学誌ネイチャーから論文盗用を指摘されたが、辞任はしなかった。２０１５年に汚職に抗議する大規模デモを受けて辞任すると、その数か月後に教育省はポンタ氏の法学の博士号を剥奪。同氏は博士号回復を求め裁判所に訴えたが、敗訴している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/10/03-14:22）

Romanian journalist Emilia Sercan has made it her mission to expose plagiarism at the country?s highest levels.
But her latest investigation of whether the prime minister passed off other people's work as his own in his doctoral thesis has made her the target of a deluge of threats and leaked intimate photos she says are aimed at silencing her.
Sercan has exposed some 50 cases of plagiarism involving the great and good over the last seven years, showing ministers, prosecutors and judges breaking the rules when publishing books, scientific articles or PhD theses.
The latest to come into her crosshairs is Romania's premier, former general Nicolae Ciuca.
In mid-January, she published an investigation in the independent media outlet PressOne, accusing Ciuca of using plagiarised content in 42 pages of his 138-page 2003 doctoral thesis on military science.
Since then the journalist has been the victim of a barrage of insults and hate speech on social media to the point where Sercan said she feels in danger.
Never before have I felt targeted in such a way, said the 46-year-old writer and academic, who has filed two complaints to the police over the threats.
Ciuca, a retired four star general who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, leads the ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) after being cherry-picked by President Klaus Iohannis, himself a liberal.
The 55-year-old premier has rejected the accusations, saying he respected the academic rules of the time.
I didn't plagiarise, he insisted.
- 'Kompromat' operation -
Sercan previously received a death threat in 2019 after revealing cases of plagiarism in PhD theses in the country's police academy. A Bucharest court later sentenced a rector and his deputy, who pressured a subordinate into threatening her, to a three-year suspended jail term.
But this time stolen intimate photos taken by her fiance some 20 years ago have been used to attack her.
Shortly after Sercan sent police screenshots of the images, the screenshots were published by a website in neighbouring Moldova and quickly ended up on 74 other sites, she said.
Sercan accused the authorities of having orchestrated a kompromat operation to try to discredit her.
Prosecutors opened a criminal case, but Sercan said the investigation seems to be making no progress.
At the highest level of state, people are blocking the process and want to bury the case, said told AFP.
They are using their power to cover their tracks and push me into silence.
The prosecutor's office told AFP that a criminal investigation had started and was ongoing.
Ten press freedom organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said they are disturbed by the harassment of Sercan -- who is also a professor of journalism at the University of Bucharest -- and have called for a thorough investigation.
All this support meant a lot for me, but not for the Romanian prosecutors, it seems, she added, saying she was furious and frustrated by the lack of action.
- 'Plagiarism networks' -
The journalist said members of the premier's party accused her of having chosen the wrong moment to reveal the plagiarism, and of wanting to destabilise the state with war raging in neighbouring Ukraine.
Three other complaints of plagiarism brought against Ciuca -- including one by an opposition MP -- have been dismissed by the courts.
A new education bill abolishing the independent body responsible for investigating plagiarism has also angered government critics.
It would also place a time limit of three years on prosecution of cases of academic misconduct.
Romania is seen as one of the most corrupt countries in the EU, and academic fraud held a particular place in its post-communist history, with many of the country's elite accused of using it as a shortcut to power and prestige.
Professor Ciprian Mihali of the University of Cluj, a specialist in the subject, said the problem has its roots in the proliferation of universities between 1990 and 2000 after the fall of the communist regime.
PhDs became the key to reaching the upper echelons of power and we have had to deal with the development of a real plagiarism industry, he said.
It's a whole line of production and networks allowing incompetent people to rise to vital positions and to stay there despite criticism.
Another Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, was accused of plagiarism by the scientific journal Nature in 2012, but refused to step down.
He was eventually forced to resign in 2015 after massive anti-corruption protests rocked the country. A few months later, the Ministry of Education stripped him of his law doctorate and he later lost a court battle to have it restored.