Iași lecturer held for rape; university bars his father from teaching

Allegations and arrest

Alexandru Toader, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, has been held in pretrial detention since his arrest on Saturday, 24 October 2026. He is accused of rape, sexual assault and using his position for sexual purposes. The prosecutors' request for his detention, sent to the Iași Court of Appeal, says he began abusing students about a year after he became a lecturer. When told of his status as a defendant, Toader declined to make a statement and invoked his right to silence.

According to the prosecutors' referral, the first alleged rape took place on 8 November 2022, when a 21-year-old woman student was summoned to his notarial office. A week later she was called to the faculty office, where she says she was raped again, and a week after that she left the faculty. One student says she was raped twice, while six other young women reported that he tried to kiss or touch them without consent.

Says she was raped twice1

Say he tried to kiss or touch them6

Says she was raped twice

1 students

Say he tried to kiss or touch them

6 students

Data from the article text

Searches and university measures

On Tuesday, 27 October, Toader was taken from the Iași county police inspectorate's detention cells, wearing a face mask, to take part in searches of his notarial office. Another police team searched the office he shares with his father, Tudorel Toader, a former justice minister, at the university. Both searches ran from 10:00 until 19:00, according to the local outlet Dezvăluirea, and case-file material indicates the victims were abused in both places. On Monday, 26 October, the Faculty of Law decided that Tudorel Toader and lawyer Andreea Urda would no longer teach fourth-year students. Rector Liviu George Maha explained the decision:

“Because they have placed themselves in a position of incompatibility, they will no longer teach fourth-year students, precisely to avoid contact with potential victims or witnesses.”

Maha also said Alexandru Toader will be barred from teaching even if his preventive arrest is lifted. The university has suspended his employment contract, and Tudorel Toader and Urda will teach only at the university's extensions in Bălți, Moldova, and Focșani.

Bar and student responses

The Iași Bar Association issued a statement on Tuesday evening, 27 October, disapproving of any link between the legal profession and incompatibility. The statement stressed that defence rights belong to everyone and that a lawyer represents a client without sharing the acts of which that person is accused:

“Between the lawyer and his client, the equal sign cannot be placed.”

The statement does not name Tudorel Toader or Urda, although the bar's website lists Urda as part of its leadership. The national alliance of student organisations (ANOSR) asked Parliament and the Ministry of Education and Research to amend the rules on university ethics and deontology, so that universities can prevent and sanction breaches. It also asked ethics committees to act on their own initiative when suspicions are public, and it argues that current legislation does not stop people with such behaviour from remaining in teaching.

“Universities have the responsibility to strengthen the trust of the university community in institutional mechanisms for reporting and resolving breaches of ethics.”

ANOSR ties the Iași case to other situations reported publicly in the months before, including at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and Transilvania University in Brașov.