Tens of people stood on Sunday 18 October in front of the European Parliament in Brussels under a large banner: "Calin Georgescu. Politically Persecuted". They chanted "We voted for him, you arrested him", "Release him" and slogans against President Nicusor Dan. Gandul reported the scene; Mediafax confirmed the same chants and the TikTok streams.

The protest does not change the legal position. Georgescu is in Bucharest's Central Arrest. On 29 September the Court of Appeal ordered 30 days of pre-trial detention, after the Tribunal had left him under judicial control. On 13 October the Bucharest Tribunal replaced pre-trial detention with house arrest. DIICOT appealed. Until the appeal is heard, the old measure stays in force.

If the appeal court keeps the Tribunal's ruling, the former candidate could serve the measure at home from the date it becomes final. If it allows the challenge, he stays behind bars. Neither outcome is a conviction. Pre-trial detention is a procedural measure, not a finding of guilt.

DIICOT is investigating him for setting up an organised crime group and aggravated fraud. The complaint came from a Buzau businessman who says he lost 1.1 million euros after being promised 6 million in funding. Prosecutors say 100,000 euros of that sum was meant to finance the presidential campaign. Georgescu was held on 21 September, together with businessman Ionel Rusen.

On Saturday night, the 19th night outside Central Arrest, about 300 people gathered. They chanted "Calin Georgescu, innocent" and the same attacks on the president. The Brussels crowd was in the tens, not the hundreds. Both gatherings ask for release; the file asks for evidence.

The presumption of innocence holds until a final sentence. The Brussels banner is a political view, not a judgment. This report keeps the protest, the custody status and the charges as courts and prosecutors have published them, without treating them as facts already judged.

Image: Jai79, European Parliament hemicycle, Brussels, 2024, CC0, Wikimedia Commons; the chamber, not the 18 October 2026 protest.

Sources consulted: Tens of people at the European Parliament in a protest for Calin Georgescu - Gandul; Protest for Calin Georgescu in Brussels - Mediafax.