The Iași Court of Appeal ordered Alexandru Toader held in pretrial detention for 30 days on Saturday, October 24, as reported by News.ro. The law lecturer is under investigation for rape, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, and using his position for sexual purposes.
The court approved the detention request submitted by prosecutors after a hearing lasting more than three hours, according to media reports. Tudorel Toader attended the proceedings.
Alexandru Toader is reportedly accused of sexually harassing two students at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University’s Faculty of Law. The women said he approached them after they failed an examination during the first session.
One of the students told Reporter de Iași that she gave in to his advances and had sexual relations with him first in his university office and later at the notary office he owns in central Iași. She alleged that he told her making “sacrifices” was necessary to continue her career and suggested sex with him as an alternative to therapy.
The student said she subsequently left the Faculty of Law and is now completing another university program. The two women claimed there may be other alleged victims at the faculty.
The investigation reportedly began last fall following the article published by Reporter de Iași.
Former justice minister Tudorel Toader claimed in a Facebook post that the case represented “an attack against me, by targeting Alexandru.” He alleged that a lawyer facing criminal cases had encouraged the two students to make unfavorable statements against his son to improve her own legal situation.
“Until today, he was unaware of any of the accusations against him, had no formal status in the case, and had no opportunity to submit evidence in his defense. He now faces an already assembled case from which he was entirely excluded, and in the end, the accusations were presented to him, he was considered guilty and deprived of his liberty,” Tudorel Toader wrote in the social media post.
“I trust that the judges will recognize this abuse and release him, giving us the opportunity to present a defense and prove his innocence.”
Meanwhile, the university said Alexandru Toader’s pretrial detention automatically resulted in the suspension of his employment contract. The Faculty of Law council was scheduled to meet on Monday to arrange measures intended to prevent disruption to teaching.
“We respect the presumption of innocence and will not comment on matters under criminal investigation,” the university stated.
Its ethics committee will continue procedures already underway and assess whether internal mechanisms for preventing and reporting harassment require changes. The university also urged students to report violations of academic ethics, including sexual harassment.
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