Judge Cristina Ardeleanu with the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected on Tuesday the case brought by Calin Georgescu in connection with the annulment of the presidential elections.

„The court rejects the request, as amended and specified, as being formulated against a person without passive procedural status. It rejects the suing, as amended and specified, as unfounded. With appeal, within 5 days since the ruling, which can be submitted to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. Pronounced today, December 31, 2024”, the Court’s ruling reads.

The solution posted on the courts’ portal is much larger and refers to the exceptions and requests of Georgescu’s lawyers, but also of the other parties in the case.

The debates in this case took place on Monday, for more than six hours, but the Court decided to postpone the ruling by a day, after several requests to recuse the case magistrate were rejected.

Thus, Georgescu’s lawyers requested the recusal of judge Cristina Ardeleanu, on the grounds that she would not be impartial, because she is the wife of a prosecutor who works for the National Anticorruption Directorate and that she allegedly gave a verdict during the case.

Calin Georgescu and the Coalition for the Defense of the Rule of Law sued the Central Electoral Bureau and several institutions: the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of Defense, the Government, the Prosecutor’s Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Romanian Intelligence Service, but also the president Klaus Iohannis and Elena Lasconi.

The main object of the file refers to the annulment of two decisions of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) by which the entire electoral process was annulled and the resumption of the presidential elections from scratch was ordered, based on the decision of the Constitutional Court.

„I hope for a professional justice and not a political justice”, Calin Georgescu said on Monday, upon leaving the courtroom.

On December 6, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential elections, won by Calin Georgescu, based on documents declassified by CSAT, received from SRI, SIE, MAI and STS.

The documents of the secret services show that Georgescu violated the electoral legislation on the financing of the campaign for the presidential elections, after he reported zero expenses to the Permanent Electoral Authority, given that the SRI and the MAI indicated that the financing of the campaign on TikTok was carried out by Bogdan Peschir and it amounted to one million euros. Also, the documents declassified by CSAT said that there were actions by a state cyber actor on IT&C infrastructures supporting the electoral process and that Romania is a target for aggressive Russian hybrid actions.

According to SIE, Romania „has become a priority for Russia’s hostile actions, there is a growing interest in the Kremlin to influence (at least) the mood and agenda in Romanian society in an electoral context”. These actions are manifested through propaganda and disinformation, supporting Eurosceptic candidates and fueling anti-system movements, including by „involving them in protests that shape the public agenda”, encouraging dissatisfaction/provoking emotional reactions at the level of the population, so as to put pressure on the authorities to reduce/stop support for Ukraine.

AGERPRES