Former Romanian candidate Georgescu has been charged with criminal offenses.

The Romanian Prosecutor General has brought a series of criminal charges against former presidential candidate and pro-Russian politician, Kelin Georgescu.

He was detained before submitting documents for re-election. The previous elections were canceled after Georgescu won the first round.

Sixty-two-year-old Georgescu faces charges related to activities against the constitutional order, spreading false information, making false statements, and creating xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups, reports Radio Free Europe.

He has been placed under judicial supervision, prohibited from leaving the country, and barred from making publications on social media.

However, the prosecutor's office has not officially communicated any details regarding the charges against the politician in today's announcements. This information is promised to be released later.

Leaving the prosecutor's building, Georgescu stated that he "will continue to fight for freedom." He was seen off by hundreds of supporters outside the building.

The first round of the presidential elections took place in Romania on November 24. Georgescu achieved an unexpected victory, garnering 22.9% of the votes. In the second round, he was set to face liberal politician Elena Lascu, who received 19.17% of the votes.

The politician could face up to 25 years in prison based on the charges.

A document from the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) states that prior to the first round of the presidential elections, "criminal cyber platforms of Russian origin" gained access to the country's electoral network.

Over 85,000 cyberattacks were detected, aimed at obtaining "access to data from IT systems, altering their integrity and the information provided to the public, as well as making the infrastructure inaccessible."

The method and scale of the cyber operation led the SRI to conclude that "the perpetrators have significant resources": they operated through computer systems in more than 33 countries and employed advanced anonymization techniques.

Background. It is worth noting that Georgescu referred to Ukraine as a fictitious state on television and also stated that after the war, its territory should be divided among other countries.