Former Romanian presidential candidate Georgescu detained

Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) has detained the country's former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu on suspicion of establishing an organized criminal group and fraud.

This was stated in a press release from the agency.

"Today, September 21, 2026, prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism <...> together with the Romanian Police Inspectorate carried out five searches in Bucharest, as well as in the localities of Mogoșoaia, Ciolpani and Buftea. The operation is being conducted as part of a case involving the establishment of an organized criminal group and fraud," the Digi24 television channel quoted the text of the release as saying. It is noted that one of those detained is Georgescu, who was apprehended while traveling in a car.

Călin Georgescu is a Russia-backed right-wing radical populist who holds pro-Russian, ultranationalist and anti-Western views.