Eight police officers receive final convictions after torturing two men in Bucharest

The highest prison sentence served by a police officer is, in this case, 5 years and 8 months, according to the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal.

The nine police officers charged in this case were charged with torture, complicity in torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty and abusive conduct. Eight of them were convicted, and the criminal proceedings against the ninth, tried for aiding and abetting the perpetrator, were discontinued due to the statute of limitations.

The two young friends were assaulted after they drew the attention of the police for not wearing masks.

According to prosecutors, the incident took place on the evening of August 31, 2020, during the state of alert imposed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two friends were heading home on Calea Șerban-Vodă when they noticed a police filter, and the agents were not wearing protective masks.

After drawing their attention to this, one of the police officers allegedly insulted them. Soon, several officers gathered around the two men, who were restrained and handcuffed.

One of them was put in a police van, where an officer allegedly held him down to prevent him from fighting back, while a police chief officer allegedly punched him and sprayed tear gas in the face. The man was allegedly left in the car, with the door closed and the windows rolled up.

The second friend was taken to another ambulance, where the same officer allegedly sprayed tear gas inside the vehicle, then closed the door.

One of the men, beaten with sticks and feet

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the first special vehicle crossed Bucharest and stopped in a vacant lot on the outskirts of the capital. There, the man was allegedly removed from the car, cursed at and punched in the ribs.

Subsequently, four police officers allegedly knocked him to the ground, and three of them allegedly beat him with batons and kicked him across his body and limbs. The officers allegedly removed his shoes and beat him on the soles of his feet with batons.

Prosecutors allege that other police officers present did not intervene to stop the assaults. When the victim asked them to stop, he was told that the beatings would only stop if he apologized.

According to investigators, the chief agent also subjected him to degrading treatment, urinating on him. He then took his mobile phone, which was ringing, and threw it into the vegetation near a railway track.

At the same time, the second man was transported to a dark area, near a disused tram line in the Zățari area, where he was unchained and abandoned.

The two friends met in the morning.

After the effects of the tear gas wore off, the man abandoned in the Zățari area tried to orient himself and find his way home. He tried several times to call his friend. The latter found his phone in the vegetation precisely because of the repeated calls. The two managed to communicate, transmitted their GPS locations and started towards each other. They met again in the morning, on the Găzarului road, after which they went home together.

The next day, the condition of the man who had been beaten on the vacant lot worsened. Although he initially did not want to file a complaint, at the insistence of his friend, the emergency number 112 was called. The man was transported to the hospital for medical care.

The investigation began the day after the call to 112, and the file was taken over by prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal in December 2020.

Four police officers are serving prison sentences

After about eight months of investigation, the nine police officers were sent to trial. Some had been arrested on remand or at home, while others had been placed under judicial control.

The first-instance convictions were pronounced in December 2024, and the judgment became final in September 2026.

Eight police officers were sentenced to prison terms. Four of them are serving their sentences in detention, the longest being 5 years and 8 months. The other four received suspended prison sentences under supervision, with the obligation to perform unpaid community service.

All eight convicts were banned from holding any position involving the exercise of state authority.

As for the ninth police officer, who was prosecuted for aiding and abetting the perpetrator, the criminal proceedings were terminated due to the statute of limitations.