Romanian court acquits former gendarmerie chiefs over violent 2018 protest crackdown

Court clears top officers of abuse of office

The Bucharest Military Tribunal on Monday acquitted Laurențiu Cazan, Sebastian Cucoș and Cătălin Sindile, the three senior Gendarmerie officers who coordinated the operation in Victory Square on 10 August 2018. They faced charges of abuse of office and, in Cazan’s case, intellectual forgery. The court ruled that their actions were a legal response to an extremely serious situation, citing the theft of a lethal firearm from a gendarme and an attack on police vehicles as the justification. The decision is not final and can be appealed.

The reasoning: a stolen weapon and “imminent danger”

In its written motivation, consulted by G4Media, the court pointed to two critical moments: the blocking and attack of four special police units near the Springtime restaurant, and the assault on two gendarmes, Ștefania Nistor and Cristian Felegă, during which Nistor’s pistol was taken by a protester. The judge concluded that this theft transformed suspicions into certainty and created an extreme risk for public safety.

The decision to intervene to disperse the crowd was taken on the basis of the imminent danger generated by the weapon, not on the certainty of its recovery. The legal requirement of art. 19(2) of Law 60/1991 and art. 34(2) of Law 550/2004 concerns the existence of strong indications of a serious crime or violence that would imminently endanger the integrity of law enforcement, conditions that were fully met at 23:08 through the actual theft of the lethal weapon and the violence against the two soldiers.

An arsenal of 489 tear-gas grenades and 63 acoustic grenades

Prosecutors had argued that the intervention was “illegal and unjustified” and that the use of batons, tear gas, acoustic grenades and other means amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. Military expert reports, cited by Libertatea, detailed that on the night of the protest, gendarmes deployed 489 hand grenades with irritant lacrimogen effect, 63 acoustic grenades and 316 cartridges of calibre 38 and 40 mm. The devices caused burns and severe injuries from shrapnel, extreme temperatures and impact force. Hundreds of people needed medical care.

Few convictions, minimal damages

Of the 16 defendants, only four lower-ranking gendarmes were convicted of abusive conduct. Marius Daniel Mihai received the heaviest sentence – one year and three months – but the court suspended its execution under supervision, ordering 120 days of community service. Three others received one-year sentences with a deferred application. The court also ordered a total of 52,000 lei (about €10,400) in moral damages to four victims, far fewer than the hundreds who had sought compensation. Most civil claims were dismissed, and the majority of the over 600 witnesses heard did not obtain any redress.

Reaction: “a new wound for democracy”

Cătălina Hopârteanu, coordinator of the Declic campaign that funded the victims’ legal representation, told RFI that the verdict was “a new wound for Romanian democracy”. She pointed out that the entire country watched peaceful protesters, elderly people, women and children being beaten and gassed. The community is now considering whether to appeal, noting that if the prosecutor’s office appeals, the case would require re-hearing all evidence, which might not be possible before the case prescribes in October 2026.

At 36 years after the June 1990 miners’ riot, this verdict is another wound for Romania’s democracy. The thug gendarmes from 10 August have been acquitted. The magistrate who made this decision says the deed does not exist, while an entire country saw peaceful protesters beaten and gassed, that there was a forceful intervention by the Gendarmerie, that journalists were hit just for doing their job.

A case that nearly expired before trial

The case was opened by prosecutors in 2018, then initially closed by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime (DIICOT) in 2020. It was reopened in spring 2022 after a victim’s challenge. In August 2023, 16 officers were indicted, with 312 injured persons as civil parties. The long proceedings pushed the case to the brink of prescription; the statute of limitations expires in October 2026, just four months from the verdict.