Elena Udrea was handed over by the Bulgarians to the Giurgiu customs

Former minister Elena Udrea, who has to serve a jail time in Romania, was handed over by the Bulgarian authorities to the Giurgiu-Ruse customs on Thursday. From here, she will be transferred to the Târgșor penitentiary, where she will have to serve a sentence of 6 years in prison in the Gala Bute case.

Elena Udrea will be imprisoned at the Târgșorul Nou Penitentiary near Ploiești, being a prison dedicated to women. She will remain in quarantine for 21 days, after which she will be imprisoned along with the other detainees.

On June 10, the Sofia Court of Appeal ruled that Elena Udrea could be extradited to Romania.

In June 2018, Elena Udrea was sentenced in the “Gala Bute” case to 6 years in prison for committing bribery and abuse of office. At the time, she was in Costa Rica, where she had sought political asylum. In October 2018, she was detained by Interpol in Costa Rica, where she was imprisoned.

In December 2018, she was released, following the decision of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the panels of 5 judges of the supreme court are illegal.

Udrea was convicted again this year, but had left the country before the court handed down her sentence. She was found in Bulgaria, and the Romanian authorities requested her extradition.

Elena Udrea tried to obtain the suspension of the European arrest warrant at the ECHR, but the European Court of Human Rights refused the request. Udrea invoked in support of his request several articles from the European Convention on Human Rights, showing in particular that it is going to be closed in inappropriate conditions, due to the overcrowding of the penitentiaries in Romania. She also said she received death threats while in custody. She also claimed that she had been convicted by an illegally constituted court, which was not independent and impartial, the ECHR also noted.