Romania: Georgescu stays in custody – supporters force their way into court
Bucharest's Court of Appeal has extended the far-right politician's pre-trial detention by 30 days over an alleged €1.1m fraud. Georgescu denies all wrongdoing.
Archive image · Photo: Ștefan Jurcă from Munich, Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Romanian far-right politician Călin Georgescu remains in pre-trial detention. On Wednesday, the Bucharest Court of Appeal extended it by 30 days until November 27, overturning an October 13 lower-court ruling that would have moved him to house arrest. Hundreds of supporters protested, and some entered the court building to demand his release.
Prosecutors are investigating an alleged fraud of €1.1 million. They say Georgescu and two other suspects persuaded a Romanian businessman to hand over the money by promising to secure him a credit line of up to €15 million from a foreign financial institution. Georgescu denies any wrongdoing and calls the investigations "politically motivated". He is presumed innocent.
Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election in November 2024; the vote was annulled over alleged Russian interference, which Moscow denies. He was barred from the rerun, won by Nicușor Dan in May 2025. In a separate case, he is accused of, among other things, inciting violence and promoting 1930s fascist leaders. Only this month, parliament approved a government led by Luca Niculescu.