Romanian Senator Diana Sosoaca wants people to know who she is. If they don’t, she will make sure they do.
She will shout and scream and protest about things she may not even care about to get attention. As long as the spotlight is on her and the world knows who she is, that’s what important.
Senator
She is a Senator of Romania. She is Senator Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca.
Her office is her ‘house,’ her property, and everyone has to do what she says there. If not, she is „insulted”, and won’t let them leave. She will call the police, whether it’s a cleaning lady or Rai Uno.
She will accuse them of stealing documents and having drugs in their possession and ask the police to search them.
„I am a very famous Senator of Romania,” she told a literally captive audience (watch the video) this month.
Interview
In this case her audience was a Rai Uno crew which has filed charges against her husband for assault and being held against their will in her office. An interview_ or three questions she’d agreed to answer_ degenerated into an altercation over how the Senator’s words would be translated.
Don’t you know who she is?
She is a politician who thinks she is very important.
She’s the victim of an international plot against her.
Iron lady
She’s the ‘Iron lady’ of Romania. She’s insulted. She’s famous. She’s international.
She makes a lot of noise. She has a catchy name „Shoshwaka” that kids and grandfathers have fun saying. But substance?
Her rhetoric has become predictable and repetitive. How many times and ways can you say” Do you know who I am?” and „There’s no pandemic” ?
Provoke
When she opens her mouth, she tries to provoke, though to be fair she’s hardly the first politician to do that.
Be warned. If you don’t know how important she is, and you’re in her office, she may ask police to search you and demand your ID, as you have probably “stolen something” as happened with Italian state broadcaster Rai Uno.
„How dare you behave with a Senator of Romania like this. Who do you think I am?” she thundered.
Press freedom
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, who have been dragged into the debacle, called the incident „regrettable.”
They probably wouldn’t have said anything, but the world is wondering whether Romanian authorities respect press freedom after the showdown with Rai Uno. The crew was kept into police custody for eight hours until the ambassador intervened and got them released. The Italian foreign ministry has asked for an explanation.
European democracy
The Romanian police know who Diana Sosoaca is. But, at least on this occasion, they seemed less aware of the importance of press freedom in a European democracy.
Lucia Goracci knew who Ms ‘no vax’ Sosoaca was. But Ms Sosoaca didn’t seem to know who Lucia Goracci was. She asked her several times during the altercation, despite having agreed to the interview in her office.
War correspondent
Ms Goracci is a seasoned war correspondent for the Italian state broadcaster, who’s reported on the Taliban. She was in Romania for a story about the anti-vaccine movement in which Ms Sosoaca has a prominent role.
The Senator’s husband Silvestru Sosoaca doesn’t know who Ms Goracci is either. He is accused of biting her and assaulting her after the interview veered sharply off course.
Nor did the Romanian police, though they do now.
Romania’s president has called for “a thorough investigation” into what happened in Diana Sosoaca’s office on December 10, which has turned into an international incident.
Intimidation
Romania’s government said it “condemned any act of intimidation against journalists.”
Romanians know who Lucia Goracci is now. They already knew who Diana Sosoaca was.
Some probably didn’t want to be reminded.
