The IOR-Titan Civic Initiative Group Association is suing the Bucharest City Hall to recover the area from IOR Park ceded back.

"The IOR-Titan Civic Initiative Group Association sued the Bucharest City Hall to recover 12 hectares of urban forest from the IOR Park abusively ceded back in May 2005, during (general mayor, ed. n.) Adriean Videanu's mandate. In the documentation submitted to the Bucharest City Court, the GIC IOR-Titan Association asks the court to declare the absolute nullity of the provisions issued by the Bucharest City Hall by which the land was returned to Maria Cocoru, because the land was in public property and not in the private property of the City Hall. Maria Cocoru was also sued by the same approach," reads a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

According to the press release, the legal action represents a new stage in the "fight" waged by the inhabitants of Titan neighbourhood and its surroundings to recover this area of IOR Park, which in the last two years "has been severely affected by illegal logging and numerous fires". Thousands of residents of the area have repeatedly and in various forms protested against the destruction, demanding the annulment of the restitution decision.

"The action invokes the provisions of Art. 50 of Law no. 10/2001 on the legal regime of certain buildings abusively taken over between March 6, 1945 and December 22, 1989, as well as the provisions of articles 192 to 194 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Specifically, GIC IOR-Titan argues that, after 1968, a park was arranged in the entire area - including the retroceded plots - so the land had the status of public property. Thus, the restitution provisions of 18.05.2005 did not comply with the legal conditions in force, the land not being in the private property of Bucharest Municipality," the press release also says.

The civic initiative group informs that it was established as a non-governmental non-profit association to represent the local community in court, to further monitor and notify the authorities about the destruction of green areas and urban nature.

"The IOR-Titan Civic Initiative Group Association is an expression of the community, of thousands of people who cherish and have many priceless memories from our dear park. Over the past nearly 60 years, many generations of children, young people, parents and grandparents have enjoyed the park's alleys, the coolness of the lake and the green areas, including the nearly 12 hectares in the area adjacent to Titan metro station, a green area that has been systematically destroyed in recent years after abusive restitution in 2005. Our efforts have been and remain civic, participatory, non-partisan and non-profit, for the benefit of IOR Park, for the protection of public property and the environment, of the nature in the city we're living in," the president of the association, Cristian Soimaru said.

According to the organization, civic actions for the reunification of the IOR Park began in 2013, when thousands of local inhabitants signed a petition asking the authorities to identify legal and moral methods by which the returned area should be reintroduced into the park. At the same time, citizens participated in the meetings of the Local Council, demanding concrete actions in this regard.

"In February 2023, after the new owners fenced off the area and started poisoning the trees, a new civic nucleus was born - GIC IOR-Titan - which mobilized over 1,500 residents of the neighbourhood to the largest protest in Romania to save a park. With the help of Greenpeace Romania, the group initiated an online petition that was signed by over 21,000 citizens. Volunteers of civic action groups sent complaints to all institutions for environmental protection, law and public order protection, organized recreational, cultural, artistic and sports activities in several areas of the IOR Park to emphasize the usefulness and need for full protection of the park," the representatives of the association said.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - editor: Maria Voican)