Fugitive Former Romanian Officials To Remain In Costa Rican Prison Until Extradition

The Pavas district criminal court, in the outskirts of Costa Rican capital San Jose, admitted the prosecutor’s request to maintain the two fugitive officials in protective custody until the extradition procedures will be finished.

Authorities from Costa Rica detained the two on October 3, based on an Interpol mandate issued by Romania, according to the Central American country’s Judicial Investigation Department (JID).

Both were detained in separate police raids, around the Sabana Oeste neighborhood of San Jose.

The operation was conducted by JID agents from Costa Rica’s Interpol office, in cooperation with officials of the country’s Information and National Security Directorate.

The two were placed under the orders of San Jose's First Circuit Criminal Court.

Both Udrea and Bica had previously announced that they were seeking political asylum in the country, accusing flawed judicial processes in Romanian court cases which sentenced both to prison terms.

Elena Udrea was sentenced to six years in prison in June for fraud in a high-profile boxing event, in a final decision. The former minister announced that she was in Costa Rica in February and that she was pregnant, and later in April stated that she applied for political asylum in the country. On September 20, her boyfriend announced that she gave birth to a girl.

Alina Bica, a former chief prosecutor of the country’s top anti-terrorism agency DIICOT, was convicted in June to a four-year prison sentence for favoring the culprit in a case she orchestrated. She requested political asylum in Costa Rica in January.

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