Human rights in Romania are generally respected by the government. However, there have been concerns regarding allegations of police brutality, mistreatment of the Romani minority, government corruption, poor prison conditions, and compromised judicial independence. Romania was ranked 59th out of 167 countries in the 2015 Democracy Index and is described as a "flawed democracy", similar to other countries in Central or Eastern Europe. Corruption and institutional abuses Corruption in Romania is a serious systemic problem, according to the anti-corruption report of the EC. Although the anti-corruption struggle has seen an upward trend in recent years, and the investigations of the National Anticorruption Directorate (NAD) have led to a former prime minister's trial in 2015 and other important public representatives, corruption still affects many aspects of life. The US Department of State's report on human rights practices highlights that bribes has remained an ordinary thing in the public sector. Romania and Bulgaria are the only EU members monitored through the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification. The MCV was established at the time Romania joined the European Union in 2007 to remedy the shortcomings of judicial reform and the fight against corruption. Although there have been significant improvements, corruption remains an issue, affecting many areas of life. Despite the fact that Romanian law and regulations contain provisions intended to prevent corruption, enforcement has generally been weak until recently. The image of Romania was badly affected by the 2012 political crisis, when the European Commission expressed concerns about the rule of law. The Commission also criticised Romania for failing to root out corruption and political influence in its state institutions. The 2017 Romanian protests were massive public protests against government plans of decriminalizing certain forms of corruption. Police brutality is also a problem. The Romanian Police was demilitarized in 2002, and has been reorganized, in order to modernize it and rid it of former abusive practices inherited from the communist era. However problems, such as police brutality, are reported to persist. According to the US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, NGOs and the media reported that "police mistreated and abused prisoners, pretrial detainees, gypsies, and other citizens, primarily through use of excessive force including beatings". Prison conditions are another problem: in 2017, the ECHR ruled that detention conditions in Romanian prisons are in breach of European Convention of Human Rights. Freedom of the press The government has been accused at times of