Cristela Georgescu accuses political persecution following raids at DIICOT Bucharest
Călin Georgescu's wife stated on Tuesday that her family was subjected to "brutal, unacceptable" interventions and that the case is political. Călin Georgescu is in 30-day preventive detention.
Cristela Georgescu, statements at the exit from DIICOT: "Political persecution in its purest form"
Cristela Georgescu launched serious accusations on Tuesday at the exit from DIICOT headquarters in Bucharest, where she witnessed digital searches of devices seized in the case in which her husband, former presidential election candidate Călin Georgescu, is in preventive detention. According to ProTV News, she described the manner in which the authorities entered the family home as "brutal and unacceptable".
Cristela Georgescu recounted that at the moment of Călin Georgescu's detention from the villa in Mogoșoaia, she, a minor child and her father, aged 90, were in the house and were guarded by armed persons.
"I want you to know that we are an ordinary family and we were subjected to brutal, unacceptable interventions," she stated. "The traumatising and almost inhuman manner in which an innocent child was guarded in bed by an armed man, who may also be a father. And a 90-year-old man was guarded, likewise, in bed by a young armed man who could have been his grandson."
The wife of the former candidate further stated that Georgescu was "taken away, handcuffed, removed in traffic without him presenting a serious, imminent danger," in front of minor children.
Accusations of a political case and breach of presumption of innocence
Cristela Georgescu maintained that the entire case represents "political persecution and a political case in its purest form," arguing that the accusations are, in her view, "unfounded". She invoked several arguments in support of this position.
The first concerns access to the case file: "To this day I have not taken possession of the case file, I have not been able to study it fully." The second concerns information leaks: according to Cristela Georgescu, confidential data from the case appeared in the press before reaching the judge, generating "manipulative and false interpretations and correlations".
The third argument invoked concerns the presumption of innocence. "The political pressure exerted including by the president of Romania and the so-called opposition upon judges presents the image of a guilty man, sketched as guilty before being tried," she stated, adding that "fundamental freedoms and rights have been seriously violated, including those under ECHR."
Cristela Georgescu specified that the digital search had not concluded on Tuesday and was to continue in the following days, announcing that she would return with additional details.
Case background: fraud of 1.1 million euros
Bucharest Court of Appeal recently admitted DIICOT's objection and decided on 30-day preventive detention for Călin Georgescu. The case concerns an accusation of fraud with particularly serious consequences, the claimed damage exceeding 1.1 million euros.
DIICOT prosecutors describe a complex fraud mechanism coordinated by Călin Georgescu, considered the leader of the group, with the participation of businessman Ionel Rusen from Constanța and Italian citizen Massimiliano Arena, under criminal investigation in his country of origin.
The complainant in the case is businessman from Buzău Răzvan Leu, whose criminal complaint triggered the investigation. The total claimed damage amounts to over one million euros.
Source: Știrile ProTV