FLASH
Shkruar nga Anita Bernacchia
Five hours of interrogation. That's how long Călin Georgescu, the pro-Russian candidate in the now-cancelled Romanian presidential election in December, spent at the General Prosecutor's Office in Bucharest on Wednesday, before being detained by police.
In a video posted on the X network, the Kremlin sympathizer is seen with his shoulders against a wall as he is handcuffed by police. The political crisis that has been rocking Romania for months has reached a decisive turning point.
The country is being led by interim president Ilie Bolojan, leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), following the resignation of Klaus Iohannis in recent weeks, demanded by several political forces and granted to avoid impeachment.
Iohannis was accused of being an illegitimate president after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election due to suspected Russian interference. Having lost the support of part of the majority that now supports the pro-European government, the former president has decided to resign to avoid further tensions.
The General Prosecutor's Office accuses the pro-Russian Georgescu of inciting actions against the constitutional order, spreading false information, repeatedly making false statements (on the sources of election campaign financing and tax returns), and creating a fascist, racist and xenophobic organization.
In a coordinated operation, law enforcement officers conducted searches at 47 locations linked to Georgescu and his associates, including his bodyguard Horațiu Potra. In December 2024, the former Foreign Legion fighter affiliated with the Wagner Group and close to neo-fascist movements was poised to cause unrest after the annulled runoff.
At Potra's home, police found 10 million euros, weapons and plane tickets to Moscow. Investigators are also looking into Potra's connections to pro-Russian elements, including a woman suspected of having ties to Chechen mercenaries.
Romanian media reported that Potra was seen in Moscow's Red Square last September. His campaign manager, Radu Pally, is also under investigation. Faced with searches involving his associates, Georgescu demanded on Facebook to "stop this abuse."
After the Constitutional Court's decision, he did not give up, appealing to the Supreme Court of Cassation and requesting a runoff. After being rejected, he tried to appeal to the Court of Human Rights, where he again failed. "Where is democracy?" - complain Georgescu's associates in a post.
“ European democracy is weak!” accuses US Vice President JD Vance. The answer is simple: democracy in Europe is in its place, on the side of law and rights and on the right side of history. This is how democracy in Europe is defended.
Georgescu was placed under judicial control for 60 days, with a ban on leaving the country. So for quite some time, attention will be on Romania, a key country not only on NATO's eastern flank, but also on the eastern border of the European Union, a pillar of Moldova and Ukraine.
A country where the EU believes that in May there will be a president capable of facing these challenges and not an ally of Putin, as the pro-Russian candidate is. At the exit of the prosecutor's office, hundreds of supporters were waiting for him, who had gathered in the square a few hours earlier to demonstrate with Romanian flags and chants of "Long live the president!".
Among them, representatives of the AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) and POT (Youth Party) parties, who in recent months had already declared their support for George Simion's possible re-candidate.
At the time of his arrest, Georgescu was about to re-submit his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections, which have been rescheduled to be held on May 4 and 18. In the run-up to the previous elections, he was ranked very low in the polls, but surprised many by winning the first round, thanks to a dubious but successful campaign on social media, especially on TikTok.
Her challenger was liberal Elena Lasconi (Union Save Romania, USR), who will not run again in May, possibly offering support to independent Nicușor Dan, mayor of Bucharest and former USR member.
" Justice is independent, and the law must be applied regardless of the person," Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told Digi24 television, in his second term after the creation of a pro-European minority government between the social democrats, national liberals and the Hungarian community (PSD-PNL-UDMR).
And he warned: " Only with clear and substantiated evidence can this criminal investigation avoid turning into a candidate's electoral manifesto."
This was also emphasized in the opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe in January, according to which the decision to annul the elections should always specify in a transparent manner which laws are violated and what evidence is presented./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Linkiesta"
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