A Romanian ended up in prison in Serbia, although he should now be in a penitentiary in our country.
The man was abroad when he was convicted and wanted to return to Romania voluntarily to serve his sentence.
He only found a plane making a stopover in Belgrade, but the authorities there detained him at the airport, because he was already wanted by Interpol. Now the family is struggling to bring him home.
The trial began four years ago, and when the court made the decision to sentence him to prison with execution, the man was working in the United States.
He received the news from his wife and decided to take the first flight to Romania to surrender. The only option, however, included a stopover in Serbia, from where he was to be picked up by his family and taken to the authorities in the country.
“They stopped him, arrested him, told him he was wanted in Romania. He said he knew, I was going to Romania to serve my sentence, he told the judge that he wanted to be sent to Romania”, said Victoria Antonescu, the man’s wife.
The woman did not think twice and talked to a lawyer and they tried to bring him to a penitentiary in Romania to serve his sentence.
Following the requests, the Serbian state agreed to the man’s transfer. The repatriation, however, remained in the air due to the non-involvement of the Romanian state, says the lawyer.
“Since January 26, when we submitted a petition to the Minister of Justice, we explained that it is necessary to expedite this extradition procedure, for humanitarian and medical reasons. From February 26 until today, however, nothing happened, and the explanation for this passivity rests with our authorities in Bucharest”, said lawyer Dan Mihăescu.
The family claims that the man is being held in inhumane conditions and has no access to treatment.
“When I first visited him, he said there was a camp there. He stays in a room continuously, he can’t go outside, he doesn’t have access to a doctor, even though he made 12 requests,” says the man’s wife.
The man went on a hunger strike to draw the authorities’ attention to his situation, but to no avail.
