Ion Andronache, the accomplice of the former mayor of Bolduresti, Nicanor Ciochina, was sentenced to two years in prison, of which six months are to be served in penitentiary, while the rest of the sentence was partially suspended. Andronache helped Ciochina to conceal his car’s involvement in the accident of February 2024, in which a 14-year-old teenager died, reports IPN.

Prosecutors argue that Andronache mounted the license plate of the car involved in the accident on another vehicle of the same model, in order to mislead the investigation. The defendant had been sought after the judges did not admit the extension of preventive arrest.

The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) has announced that it will challenge the sentence, considering it too lenient.

In the same case, Nicanor Ciochina was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the fatal accident of a minor, even though the prosecutors had asked for 9 years. The court acquitted him of criminal liability for leaving the scene of the accident and not providing assistance to the victim, arguing that the statute of limitations had expired.

The victim’s mother, Raisa Ciurel, stated to the press that she would have wished for the former mayor to be present at the pronouncement of the sentence. So far, the woman has not requested moral damages, even though the court encouraged her to do so.

The case was finalized two years after the tragedy, a period marked by hearings, debates, postponements of meetings, and attempts to delay the examination of the cause. The decision can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.