The Bucharest Court of Appeals decided on Wednesday to place Szocs Zoltan, leader of the nationalist-extremist 64 Counties Youth Movement (HVIM) Transylvania, under preventive arrest for 30 days. Szocs Zoltan is accused by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) prosecutors of allegedly instigating organisation members to manufacture an improvised explosive device with the purpose of detonating it during manifestations marking the National day of Romania.
The court’s decision can be appealed.
DIICOT prosecutors conducted on Tuesday four searches at the home and residences of Szocs Zoltan, who was subsequently remanded in custody and transferred to Bucharest for hearings lasting several hours.
The investigators extended research in the case on the arrest of extremist figure Beke Istvan, and requested that criminal prosecution of Szocs Zoltan be initiated, for committing the offence of incitement to commit actions against the constitutional order and incitement to breach the regime of explosive materials.
According to DIICOT, in his position of HVIM Transylvania chairman on October 10, 2015, during a meeting attended by members of local structures and other chapters of HVIM located on Romanian territory, Szocs Zoltan instigated members of the HVIM Targu Secuiesc chapter to manufacture an improvised explosive device to be detonated in public, on the territory of Covasna county, during manifestations marking the celebration of the Romanian National day on December 1.
“Promoter of the slogan ‘Székely Land is not Romania!’ and convinced of the fact that, in order to attain autonomist-separatist objectives promoted in Transylvania by the members of the 64 Counties Youth Movement (HVIM), ‘must follow the path of actions, everything must be seized in a physical way, bloodshed is a must’, in his position of HVIM Transilvania chairman, on 10.10.2015, S. Z. charged members of the Tg. Secuiesc HVIM chapter with the task of placing the improvised explosive devices”, the prosecutors say.
On October 13, 2015 Szocs Zoltan left Romania and returned December 20. Subsequently, he took steps to contact family members of Beke Istvan and other participants to the meeting held on October 10, 2015 with the purpose to adopt a public common stance concerning the events that preceded the arrest of Beke Istvan.
In the same case, Beke Istvan, Romanian citizen of Hungarian ethnicity, was placed under preventive arrest, under allegations of planning to detonate an improvised explosive device at the events marking the Romanian National Day in Targu Secuiesc.
