Romania’s far-right former presidential candidate charged with plotting coup with Russia-linked paramilitaries 

Romanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged Mr. Georgescu, who rose from obscurity to improbably win the first round of a presidential election, before he was barred from standing in a re-run, of plotting a violent coup.

The charges are linked to a police operation in December 2024 after the presidential election was canceled when officers intercepted 21 people, some carrying knives and guns, heading to Bucharest to allegedly overthrow the government. Some of the indicted have links to Russia, General Prosecutor Alex Florenta said later in an interview with Antena 3.

In a press release, prosecutors said the armed group was planning to instigate clashes and carry out “violent actions of a subversive nature”, and endanger national security and the “constitutional order.”

Although mentioned by name in the press release, Georgescu, 65, has been identified as one of the plotters of the coup along with Horaţiu Potra, the leader of a paramilitary group. In the release, he is described as a “former presidential candidate.”

Prosecutors said Georgescu and Potra met on Dec. 7 to mastermind the coup a day after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of November 24 presidential election, which Georgescu won, due to an alleged Russian influence operation.

Georgescu, a charismatic far-right unknown, conspiracy theorist and NATO skeptic, was later banned from running in the May presidential election.

The court decisions divided Romanians and thousands took to the streets to protest teh ruling. Prosecutors say that  Georgescu aimed to exploit the ensuing “maximum social tension” to generate further unrest and “change the constitutional order or to make it more difficult or prevent the exercise of state power.”

The 21 participants who are alleged to have participated in the coup attempt and are members of Potra’s paramilitary group, will face trial. It was reported that Potra is seeking asylum in Russia according to Romania’s Prosecutor General Alex Florenta.

Florenta said that Romania was “was the favorite target of extensive, hybrid campaigns” by Moscow, including cyberattacks and disinformation, to disrupt the 2024 election.