Eight police officers were definitively sentenced after torturing two young men

Eight officers from Police Section 16 in the capital were definitively sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, having been found guilty of detaining and torturing two young men. Four of them were sentenced to prison terms of up to 5 years and 8 months for assaulting two young men in August 2020, in Bucharest and near the town of Jilava. The court handed down lighter sentences than those imposed at first instance, following the statute of limitations expiring for some of the offenses.

The harshest sentence, 5 years and 8 months, was received by Viorel Constantin Șeicaru, a former police union leader, for unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture, incitement to unlawful deprivation of liberty, and abusive conduct. Three other officers received custodial sentences, while four were given suspended sentences and ordered to perform community service. All of them are barred from holding positions involving the exercise of state authority.

According to investigators, on the night of August 31, 2020, the two young men reproached some police officers and gendarmes for not wearing protective masks. One of them was allegedly beaten and tortured in a field, while the other was allegedly held in a police vehicle in which tear gas was sprayed and then abandoned. An officer tried for aiding the perpetrator was acquitted as a result of the offenses becoming time-barred.