The case of Alina Apostol, the translator imprisoned for 7 years in China for a bank fraud, is ignored by the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the President of the Senate – Nicolae Ciucă and the Minister of Justice – Alina Gorghiu. What answers did Marius Balo receive, the man from Cluj who went on hunger strike for Alina.
Alina Apostol was imprisoned for 7 years in China for bank fraud. PHOTO: Personal archive
Marius Balo, the Romanian who was imprisoned for eight years in a prison in China, is on the 18th day of a hunger strike to get the Ministry of Justice to take steps to transfer Alina Apostol to the country. The translator has been in prison in China for seven years following a 12-year bank fraud conviction.
The other days, in desperation for the cause, Marius Balo sent emotional messages to the Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the President of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă. “I chose to send them voice messages, because I hope that if they hear my voice they will be moved by the situation in which Alina is.”
Ciolacu, Ciucă and Gorghiu ignored the case of Alina Apostol. The first two ignored Marius Balo's messages with polite answers, but without effect, and the Minister of Justice – Alina Gorghiu totally ignored Balo's messages.
Balo claims that the Ministry of Justice only needs to contact the Chinese authorities and ask for an account number in which her family can transfer the amount charged as damages by the Chinese authorities – about 58,000 euros.
“The Ministry of Justice expects from China, in dolce «far niente», an account number in which the parents transfer Alina's fine and thus all the conditions imposed by the Chinese side for the transfer are met. The parents sold the girl's apartment, they have the money. The Ministry of Justice just needs to get hold of the account number“, said Marius Balo.
Message to Alina for Alina
We continue to reproduce the message sent by Marius Balo to the Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu:
“With requests, Madam Minister, I return to you. I am Marius Balo, the theologian from Cluj who is on the 17th day of the hunger strike for Alina Apostol. I'm coming back to you with a request to give me just 5 minutes of your time any day this week. If you let me know, I will immediately get on the train and come to Bucharest, just so you know me, Madam Minister. I'm sure it will help you understand the drama she's going through and the suffering Alina is going through right now, and it's impossible that we can't do something for her. I am on my 17th day of hunger strike and I am determined to go forward as long as it takes. Please do not overlook this message, let's try to do something.“
Marius did not receive a response to this message, nor to the one he sent before starting the hunger strike.
“It is impossible not to be able to get an account number, Madam Minister. This is impossible. Please listen to this message from the bottom of your heart. I just want to receive a sign from you if it is possible to meet you, to tell you just a few moments, to tell you what I went through there. I am sure this will help you to understand, to understand our case and the pain of this girl who is imprisoned there. Please do not overlook my message. Please help Alina from the bottom of your heart“, the Cluj resident also told him.
Alina Gorghiu ignored the situation in which Alina Apostol is, claims Marius Balo. Neither now nor before the hunger strike, when I sent her another message, the liberal did not answer. There was an official Ministry of Justice view that Balo claims is full of lies.
Ciolacu ignores the case of Alina Apostol
Below is Marius Balo's message to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu:
“If there's a chance you can have me for just 5 minutes on any of these days just let me know. I take the train and come immediately to Bucharest. Just 5 minutes to give me the opportunity to tell you what I went through there. I am convinced that it would mean a great deal to you, and to me, and to the girl's cause. This any day, Mr. Ciolacu. I am now at home in Cluj. The moment you tell me, I immediately take the train and come, I come to Bucharest on the 2nd day. Just 5 minutes to see me face to face, I am convinced that it would also help you to better understand the situation this girl is going through and of course it would be an extraordinary gesture that I am convinced that everyone, everyone in this country, everyone Romanians would appreciate it. Thank you again”.
Marcel Ciolacu ignored the voice message sent, the other day, by Marius Balo. However, during the Easter period, the prime minister responded to another message from the Cluj resident. “He didn't give me anything specific, but at least he confirmed that he got the message and wished me Happy Holidays. Nothing happened after that”claims the Cluj resident.
Nicolae Ciucă's answer: polite, but without effect
Below is the message to the President of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă:
“I am the theologian from Cluj who was unjustly imprisoned for 8 years in communist China. I am sending you this message because today is the 17th day of my hunger strike for Alina Apostol, the Romanian woman who is still imprisoned there for 6 years. I kept trying, Mr. President, to take steps. Unfortunately, from the Ministry of Justice, I received only cynicism and answers like that.”
Marius referred to the answer received from the Ministry of Justice from the director Onaca Denisa: “He tells me that in about 5 years, if they do something. I can't last 5 years and Alina won't last 5 years either. Only an account number is required. I don't understand where this cynicism comes from. They shouldn't even need an account number, let the parents send that fine money, so that it can be resolved once, because they don't ask for money from the ministry, they don't ask, they have the money, they sold the girl's apartment, just let them an account number is given, to send those pennies there”.
Balo expressed his willingness to go in person to explain the situation to him. “I am convinced that knowing me you will better understand what that girl is going through. Please don't let him die there. If you let me know, I'll take the train in just 5 minutes and come to Bucharest immediately. The 2nd day I'm in Bucharest and I'm coming to meet you. Please do not easily overlook this message and these words of mine.”
Ciucă ignored the voice message, but the man from Cluj has a reply sent by Nicolae Ciucă before the hunger strike started, about three weeks ago:
“Hello, Mr. Balo! I will speak to the minister and ask her to contact you. After I receive a feedback we will talk again.“
He was not contacted by the minister, nor did the liberal come back with details.
Outraged by the response of the Ministry of Justice
Balo is outraged by the response he received from the Ministry of Justice – which he says is full of lies. He claims that it is hard to imagine how the Romanian authorities cannot obtain from the Chinese an account in which Alina's family can deposit the imputed fine – 58,000 euros. Her family sold an apartment and has the money at their disposal… The Ministry claims that compensation must also be covered – about 200,000 euros -, but Balo denies this:
“He only has to pay a fine. And in my case it was a fine and everything was very simple. I don't know why then it could be resolved immediately and now for a year and a half they have been waiting for an account number.”
The Ministry also claims that the transfer to Romania can only be made in the last 2-3 years of the sentence, which, Balo explains, is false, because during his incarceration he witnessed the transfer of some European citizens who had a lot of their sentence left to execute.
“I personally saw two Europeans while I was there who were transferred. One, sentenced to life imprisonment, an Austrian, Gunter Schuller, was imprisoned for life and after 3-4 years he went home. A Frenchman sentenced to 7 years for some tax evasion left after a year“, he explained.
Asked why he thinks that the employees of the Ministry of Justice are not taking the necessary steps, Balo answered: “out of carelessness”.Balo says he will go on hunger strike “until things move.“
“His life hangs by a thread”
Balo does not dispute the 13-year sentence received by Alina, who was a translator for a Romanian businessman who committed bank fraud in China, but demands that she be transferred to Romania, as her life hangs in the balance.
Marius shows that the Romanian woman has reached a deplorable state: she has lost a lot of weight and her teeth have fallen out. “For months, no one bothered to pick up the phone, call China and within 2 minutes get that account number. Meanwhile, Alina, reduced to a bag of bones after six years of starvation, even had her teeth fall out. His life hangs by a thread”the Romanian specified.
He knew life in Chinese prisons and says that he cannot remain indifferent to the young woman's sufferings: “I also went through the communist prisons in China. I cannot remain indifferent to her pain and suffering. I can not. If I did this, if I walked past her like a cold beast who didn't care, it would mean that I had learned nothing in the eight years of torment.”
Alina Apostol was detained and arrested in 2017, in Fujien province. The Chinese authorities accused her of participating in a bank fraud in her capacity as a translator. In 2019, the Romanian was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison. Also, the Romanian must pay 217,000 dollars jointly with the other defendants and a fine of 58,000 dollars.
