The court cases initiated by Alburnus Maior aim to ensure that the decision-making process over the Rosia Montana gold mine proposal is a democratic one, based on public participation and in full respect to the rights of the directly affected local population:
 
- the right to a clean environment;
- access to information and public participation in decision-making;
- the right to cultural heritage;
- the right to private life, property and free economic initiative.

If this principles and rights would be fully respected at Rosia Montana, this project should never be approved.

Access to justice on human rights and environmental issues is:

- a right guaranteed by the Constitution;
- one of the most democratic ways to debate problems faced by a community at a particular moment;
- court actions – an act of public participation ;
- for Alburnus Maior – an efficient way to establish a more just and equitable situation for Rosia Montana's patrimony, environment and population.

Risk Analysis Report October 2004
Risk Analysis Report November 2005
Risk Analysis Report November 2007

For more information on Alburnus Maior's litigation activities you can access a power point presentation here.

Litigation Successes

On 20 May 2008, Alburnus Maior organized two seminars in Bucharest. Their scope was to inform the public and the press about the most significant results achieved to date by the NGO’s strategic litigation activities.

In the morning Alburnus Maior held a press conference to which it also invited public and civil society institutions. The event saw the launch of a report entitled “Seven Reasons why Gabriel won’t mine Rosia Montana!” This report aims to detail in a simple manner the court cases initiated by Alburnus Maior and to update the public on the results secured in Romanian courts to date.

In the afternoon, Alburns Maior organized a seminar for students and professors from Bucharest’s Ecological University and the Faculty of Law of the Bucharest University.

Both events saw roughly 40 participants and included 5 presentations - 4 held by lawyers and one held by Alburnus Maior’s legal councilor. The presentations were followed by a secession of Questions and Answers. The first presentation, which was a detailed introduction into Alburnus Maior’s litigation activities, was held by Stefania Simion, Alburnus Maior’s legal councilor. It was followed by a presentation by Andreea Szabo who has been Alburnus Maior’s main lawyer since 2004. Attorney Marius Liviu Harosa followed with a presentation on two litigation cases where he represented Alburnus Maior; one in the field of urbanism and one in the field of cultural patrimony.

Given that do date environmental litigation is not widely used in Romania, Alburnus Maior invited two lawyers from ClientEarth to explain this strategic tool to a Romanian audience. Anais Berthier who works in Brussels explained how lawyers and NGOs have been successfully using the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice to provoke greater transparency and justice on the EU level. Tim Malloch who works for ClientEarth in London explained how environmental litigation is used to stop the development of a new generation of polluting coal plants in England. If ever developed, these coal plants would be a major contributor to Climate Change due to their massive CO2 emissions.

Both events enjoyed the financial support of the Budapest-based Open Society Foundation.