The prosecutor in court on Wednesday requested prison sentences from the Bucharest Military Tribunal for the former heads of the Gendarmerie who ordered the violent suppression of demonstrators during the protest in Victoriei Square in August 2018.

The Bucharest Military Tribunal scheduled the final hearings in the 10 August case for Wednesday and Thursday, in which former Gendarmerie chiefs are being tried in connection with the forceful intervention against demonstrators in Victoriei Square.

Also present in the courtroom were several future magistrates, trainees at the National Institute of Magistracy, who came to listen to the final arguments in the case.

The prosecutor requested that the court impose prison sentences on the three former Gendarmerie chiefs, with additional penalties applied for aggravating circumstances.

For Colonel Gheorghe Sebastian Cucos and Colonel Catalin Sindile, the prosecutor requested custodial prison sentences, while for Laurentiu Cazan a more lenient sentence was sought, namely a suspended prison sentence and community service, taking into account his attitude during the trial - he was the only one of the three to give a statement before the court - as well as the fact that one of the offences is now statute-barred.

In the case of another seven gendarmes sent to trial for abusive conduct, the offences are also statute-barred.

In the prosecutor's view, even though some of the offences are statute-barred, the gendarmes should still pay moral damages to the protesters who suffered as a result of the forceful intervention by the authorities.

In August 2023, the former heads of the Gendarmerie were sent to trial by prosecutors from the Military Section of the General Prosecutor's Office in the case concerning the 10 August 2018 protest, with 312 injured parties joining the proceedings as civil claimants.

Retired Colonel Gheorghe Sebastian Cucos, former head of the Romanian Gendarmerie, Colonel Laurentiu Cazan, former deputy director general of the Bucharest Gendarmerie, currently an officer within the same structure, and Colonel Catalin Sindile, former first deputy head of the Romanian Gendarmerie, are accused of abuse of office.

In the same case, another 13 officers and non-commissioned officers from the Bucharest Gendarmerie were sent to trial: retired Colonel Laurentiu Ciobanu Cristian, former battalion commander within the Bucharest Gendarmerie Directorate, Colonel Razvan Catalin Popescu, Colonel Marian Ion Zavoianu, Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Costel Dumitru, Major Luca Moldoveanu, Captain Marius Daniel Mihai, retired Adjutant Warrant Officer Alin Belecciu, Master Sergeant Marian Cristian Birsan, Adjutant Warrant Officer Cristian Bolat, Chief Adjutant Warrant Officer George Buzatu, Adjutant Warrant Officer Florea Carmocanu, retired Chief Adjutant Warrant Officer Bardahan Pavel Custrin and retired Master Sergeant George Constantin Zamfir.

They are accused of abusive conduct or complicity in that offence.

According to the investigation, Colonel Laurentiu Cazan, as commander of the operation, together with Gheorghe Cucos and Ionut Sindile, as coordinators of the same operation, improperly fulfilled their duties and unlawfully ordered the gendarmerie forces under their command to intervene forcibly in order to disperse the entire crowd of protesters present in Victoriei Square - approximately 30,000 people - an intervention which they subsequently led.

Prosecutors argue that the forceful intervention by the gendarmes against the entire crowd of protesters in Victoriei Square on 10 August 2018 was unlawful and unjustified, and that the use by law enforcement forces of equipment including rubber batons, protective shields, tear gas sprays, hand grenades with acoustic and tear gas effects, high-capacity dispersal devices and cartridges may be regarded as 'inhuman' and 'degrading' treatment. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Eusebi Manolache; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)