Romania’s Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial of Gabriel Popoviciu who fled Romania after he was handed a 7-year jail sentence in 2017.
The 64-year-old fugitive real estate tycoon is currently in Britain where he found legal protection.
Popoviciu was sentenced to 7 years of detention in a real estate case for allegedly fraudulently acquiring land in north Bucharest where IKEA and the U.S. Embassy are located. He skipped his sentence and lives in London.
In August 2019, a UK court ruled on Popoviciu could be extradited to Romania, but on 11 June 2021, the High Court of England and Wales upheld Popoviciu’s appeal and overturned the lower court’s ruling.
Judge Holroyde and Judge Jay upheld his appeal on the grounds he did not have a fair trial in Romania.
Popoviciu was assisted by Edward Fitzgerald QC, one of the best lawyers in London in extradition cases.
In January 4, 2021, Fitzgerald QC persuade the court not to extradite Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange who is wanted by the FBI on espionage charges. In December 10, 2021, another high court panel in London ruled that Assange could be extradited to the US.
Popoviciu mobilized other influential lawyers globally, such as Hunter Biden, Louis Freeh the former head of the FBI, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and Donald Trump’s lawyer.
