A Romanian former mercenary and bodyguard of far-right pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu has been ordered to remain in custody for 24 hours after he and a group of armed associates were detained by police while heading toward Bucharest on December 8.
Authorities said Horatiu Potra was ordered to be held in custody late on December 8 for violating Romania's laws on weapons and ammunition and for public incitement. His lawyers said the order did not mention Potra's links with Georgescu.
"He is currently under arrest for 24 hours and the law says that before that term expires, authorities can decide to either continue to hold him in preventive custody, place him under judicial control, or simply release him," Potra's lawyer, Christiana Mondea, told the media.
Vehicles carrying Potra and a group of 20 people were stopped and searched in Ilfov county north of Bucharest by police. During the search guns, machetes, axes, and knives were found, which, authorities said, could have been used to "disrupt public order and peace."
At least 13 people were being questioned by law enforcement agencies.
The arrest came as Georgescu and dozens of his supporters staged a protest early on December 8 in Bucharest after a runoff presidential vote scheduled for that day was scrapped by the country's Constitutional Court.
Georgescu won a shock victory in the first round on November 24 amid accusations that he had been backed by a huge Russia-orchestrated online campaign using primarily the Chinese-owned TikTok social media platform.
Romania's Supreme Defense Council later declassified documents allegedly proving Georgescu's presidential bid had been aided by a campaign led by a "state actor" which was not named.
Following the council's move, the court canceled the December 8 runoff between Georgescu and pro-European center-right candidate Elena Lasconi.
Romanian authorities staged raids and traffic checkpoints after Georgescu urged his supporters to show up at polling stations on December 8 in defiance of the court's ruling and demand to vote.
Media reports said Potra and his companions had booked hotels in downtown Bucharest close to University Square, where anti-Georgescu protesters had gathered in previous days.
Georgescu early on December 8 told his supporters in Mogosoaia, just outside the capital, "I came only with flowers and prayer."
"I am not calling on anyone to do anything. It is a moment of silence," he added.
Potra, a former fighter in France's Foreign Legion, is reported to have led a 900-strong contingent of Romanian military contractors who fought in the African country of Congo.
He is said to have had ties to Russian mercenary group Wagner, which fought in Ukraine and was established by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who died in a plane crash last year after staging a short-lived revolt against Russian military leaders.
Potra, who has denied having any links to Wagner, appears in a photo last year in the company of Russian Ambassador to Romania Valery Kuzmin at a ceremony at the embassy marking Russia's national day.
According to Romanian media, Potra was sentenced to two years in prison with a suspended sentence in 2011 after being found guilty of founding a paramilitary group.
On December 9, new information surfaced about a coordinated malign cyber campaign to influence Romania's elections.
Leading Finnish software and methodologies company Check First on December 9 published a research note that says tech giant Meta allowed a network of 4,140 Facebook pages to post messages attacking Lasconi and promoting Georgescu reaching an audience of 160 million in violation of Meta's advertising policies.
These attacks, with a budget ranging from $176,000 to $ 280,000, repeatedly violated Meta's advertising policies and collectively reached some 160 million people.
Check First worked with Reset Tech -- an NGO engaged in programmatic work on technology and democracy -- and independent Romanian journalists Luiza Vasiliu and Victor Ilie during the research.