BUCHAREST (AFP) – Romanian investigators have arrested a security contractor and another man for allegedly planning to instigate unrest after presidential elections were scrapped.
The constitutional court’s unprecedented ruling on Friday – two days before a scheduled presidential run-off – opens the way for a new electoral process starting from scratch in the European Union (EU) and NATO member state, which borders Ukraine.
The annulment – rare in Europe – followed the release of a spate of declassified intelligence documents detailing allegations against far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, including claims of “massive” social media promotion and cyberattacks.
Prosecutors and police searched 12 houses in and around the capital Bucharest and the central county of Sibiu on Monday, they said in a statement.
Among the locations searched was the home of Horatiu Potra, an ex-member of the French Foreign Legion with links to the Democratic Republic of Congo, who according to Romanian media allegedly provided armed security to Georgescu.
Potra and another defendant are accused of heading to Bucharest this weekend carrying weapons, including firearms and some USD18,000, “which were allegedly intended to be used to instigate and reward persons in the commission of crimes in unauthorised public meetings”, prosecutors said.
They both have been arrested, a spokesperson for the prosecutors’ office told AFP, after police stopped them with several others.
The suspects allegedly wanted to disrupt possible protests against Georgescu, according to the Digi24 news site. No large-scale protests have been held since Friday’s court ruling.
Potra’s lawyer, Christiana Mondea, told AFP that her client was going to Bucharest “to see his family” and denied any links to Georgescu’s case.
Georgescu, who unexpectedly topped last month’s first round of voting and has described the vote cancellation as a “coup”, has said he has heard of Potra, but “has not met him in person”.
But a Romanian media outlet published a photo of Georgescu sitting at the same table with Potra.
After the revelation, Georgescu told a local broadcaster that the photos could be from three years ago, adding, “I don’t remember seeing him, I’ve been to a lot of places.”
The former senior civil servant had been due to face pro-EU centrist mayor Elena Lasconi in Sunday’s run-off. On Saturday, police raided three houses in Brasov city in central Romania as part of a separate investigation “in connection with crimes of voter corruption, money laundering, computer forgery”.
A new government – to be formed after the ruling Social Democrats won legislative elections earlier this month – is expected to set a fresh date for the presidential vote.
