Experts debate school radicalisation after Bistrița teen's stabbing of teacher and classmate
A 13-year-old student from Bistrița attacked his math teacher and a peer, prompting a livestream panel to examine his online neo-Nazi manifesto and systemic failures.
In Bistrița, a 13-year-old pupil from Școala Gimnazială „Ștefan cel Mare” was arrested after stabbing his mathematics teacher and a classmate. Prior to the attack, he had uploaded a roughly 60-page manifesto online that openly advocated neo-Nazi ideology, listed potential victims, and outlined plans to set fire to a school office and acquire a police weapon. A livestream discussion featuring Costi Rogozanu, Elena Trifan and Vlad Bujdei-Tebeica highlighted that authorities ignored repeated warnings about the boy’s behaviour, even though the school participated in an SRI extremism-prevention scheme.
The experts condemned the scarcity of school counsellors, the influence of extremist online groups, and the role of political discourse in normalising racist attitudes. They called for stronger institutional listening and intervention mechanisms to prevent similar tragedies.
Why it matters
The case exposes gaps in school safety and radical-extremism monitoring, raising concerns about youth violence in Romania.
How this story developed
- Oct 19 Teacher and student wounded in Bistrița school stabbing by seventh-grader
- Oct 20 The suspect was transferred to a child psychiatry clinic in Cluj‑Napoca after medical assessment.
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