USR deputy slams former justice minister over son's pre-trial detention for alleged student harassment

Monica Berescu, a deputy from USR, publicly condemned former justice minister Tudorel Toader for what she described as a cynical defense of his name at the expense of two female students who reported sexual harassment. Alexandru Toader, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law in Iași and son of the former minister, was placed in preventive detention for 30 days after prosecutors alleged he harassed the students following failed exams.

A panel of judges at the Curtea de Apel Iași reviewed the evidence and authorized the detention. Berescu said Tudorel Toader had previously told the victims they were manipulated, framing them as instruments of an alleged plot. She warned that such statements could silence other students facing similar dilemmas between academic performance and personal dignity. The case underscores tensions between political figures and the handling of sexual-harassment accusations in Romanian academia.