Romanian President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over a U.S. court's ruling in the case of an American marine who killed Romanian musician Teo Peter in a car crash.

Basescu described the ruling as unacceptable and said the opinion of 22 million Romanians had not been taken into consideration.

Meanwhile, Popescu-Tariceanu was quoted by Romanian news agency ROMPRES as saying the ruling was "unexpected, or at least unintelligible."

Family members of Teo Peter also voiced their indignation and demanded the case be retried by the U.S. Ministry of Justice, saying they had the backing of the Romanian government.

Teo Peter was killed on Dec. 4, 2004 in Bucharest when his taxi was hit by the car of U.S. marine staff Robert Christopher, who was serving as a bodyguard in the city's U.S. embassy.

Christopher returned to the U.S. under the embassy's protection after the accident, drawing strong criticism from the Romanian Foreign Ministry which later demanded his extradition.

According to ROMPRES, the U.S. martial court ruled that Christopher was guilty of false official statements and obstruction of justice. He was cleared of other charges on adultery and negligent homicide.

Source: Xinhua