Bucharest Tribunal

See also: List of post-Tanoa tribunals

The Bucharest Tribunal (Romanian: Tribunalul Special de la București) was a tribunal opened at the Palace of Justice in Bucharest, Romania, on 1 May 2025 following the collapse of the Bucharest Butchers and the final dismantling of Snubable Enterprise. It processed captured suspects and recovered case records connected to the Bucharest Butchers and assigned sentences to people classified as contributors to the organization.

The tribunal operated under the emergency reconstruction process directed by the Comisia Română pentru Reconstrucție (Romanian Reconstruction Commission). Prosecutions were conducted through the Parchetul Tribunalului Special de la București. Evidence collected by the Fish Collective entered the tribunal record through the Biroul pentru Probe Fish Collective. Hugo Hugerinus Paap served as its evidence representative for fugitive intelligence and seized files.

Proceedings

Proceedings began when the tribunal opened on 1 May 2025 and continued as captured members, suppliers, and other participants connected to the Bucharest Butchers were processed.

• 1 May 2025 – Richard Rambam, Peter Pecker, and Mihai Dobreanu were captured during the collapse of Snubable Enterprise. The tribunal assigned death to all three, and they were executed in Bucharest later that day.

• 10 May 2025 – Arbëror Shpend Leka and Kateryna Moroz, who had been detained at a house in the Dardania district of Gjakova on 9 May, were transferred through Pristina to Bucharest. The tribunal treated Leka as an external war financier whose network had supplied the Bucharest Butchers. His conviction covered arms trafficking and war-finance activity through Harku i Drenicës. It also covered his Glöbberian payment activity and Tanoan-linked work. Leka and Moroz were convicted during the early proceedings and executed by firing squad in Bucharest the same day.

• 16–18 May 2025 – Proceedings against Dorin Vasile Bălănescu took place on 16 May after his arrest on 4 May. The tribunal convicted him of murdering Adrian Corneșanu and concealing evidence. It also recorded his removal of Snubable Enterprise archives after the organization's collapse. Bălănescu was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad at a tribunal detention compound in Băneasa, Bucharest, on 18 May.

• 7–12 June 2025 – Proceedings against Alexandru Ionuț began on 7 June following his arrest in Bucharest on 17 May. Snubable Enterprise facility logs and recovered Bucharest Butchers rank material were used to establish his place in the organization's enforcement structure. Alexandru stated that he had followed orders from senior members, but the tribunal held him responsible for direct criminal acts committed between 1997 and 2019. He was convicted of crimes against humanity on 11 June. The decision covered his enforcement work and trafficking conduct. It also covered illegal biological experimentation. Alexandru was sentenced to death and executed by shooting in Bucharest on 12 June.

• 24–27 June 2025 – Proceedings against Desmond Carter began on 24 June. Carter had voluntarily surrendered at a police station in Bucharest on 7 May and admitted that he had knowingly transported firearms for the Bucharest Butchers. He was convicted on 27 June of participation in an organized criminal group and firearms trafficking. Separate firearms convictions concerned smuggling and unlawful possession or transport. The tribunal considered his voluntary surrender when sentencing him to three years' imprisonment.

• 29–30 June 2025 – Mohammedescu Ionuț, who had been found by Fish Collective members in Bucharest on 6 May, was assigned death on 29 June after medical treatment in detention had delayed his proceeding. He was executed by firing squad at a tribunal detention compound on 30 June.

• 22 August 2025 – Vladut Ionuț was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the Bucharest Butchers and its trafficking system. He had been arrested on 6 May after attempting to destroy records from properties under his command, while surviving trafficking records were entered into the tribunal record.

• 23 September 2025 – Mihai Ionuț was sentenced to life imprisonment. Investigators had arrested him on 8 May after recovering internal Bucharest Butchers records bearing his entries. The tribunal also examined allowance payments that continued after he stopped working and treated both the records and payments as evidence of his participation in the organization.

• 14 October 2025 – Nicolae Ionuț was sentenced to life imprisonment for participation in the Bucharest Butchers and offences committed under its protection. He had been detained on 6 May, and prosecutors added his stadium cases to a wider organized-crime indictment on 19 June.

• 20–28 October 2025 – Proceedings against Mircea Ionuț opened on 20 October following his arrest on 13 May. Investigators had matched recovered Bucharest Butchers payment records to killings attributed to him. Ioana Stănescu testified on 21 October about weapons and money she had concealed for Mircea. On 24 October, the tribunal recorded 64 murders against him and his knowing financial support of Porno Bucharest. He was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in Băneasa on 28 October.

• 4 November 2025 – Ioana Stănescu was sentenced to life imprisonment. Her proceeding established that she had concealed evidence and retained money from Mircea Ionuț's killings. The tribunal also found that she had obstructed investigations for decades.

• 3–19 December 2025 – Additional files concerning Vladut Ionuț entered the tribunal record on 3 December. They identified him as the direct perpetrator of killings previously attributed to crews under his command. Other records established that he had ordered the destruction of evidence before his arrest. The tribunal reconsidered his earlier classification and sentenced him to death on 12 December. Vladut was executed by firing squad in Bucharest on 19 December.

• 8 July 2026 – Andrei Ionuț was sentenced to death after 433 days in custody. He had initially received life imprisonment, but further files concerning his leadership were later added to the tribunal record and he was interrogated again before the final decision. Before his execution, the convictions recorded against him were read aloud. His only recorded response was, "Amazing." He was executed by firing squad in Bucharest the same day.

Evidence

The tribunal used material recovered from the Bucharest Butchers and Snubable Enterprise. Records from Septicsolution also entered the case record. The Fish Collective released individual records concerning Bucharest Butchers members and provided files documenting the organization's connection to the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen.

Material seized from Leka and Moroz in Gjakova documented the Bucharest-facing routes of Harku i Drenicës. Investigators recovered Tanoan surplus invoices and Glöbberian payment notes. Route lists and rail manifests documented movements toward Bucharest. Moroz's courier notebook helped investigators match payment names to Bucharest buyers.

The six archive boxes removed by Bălănescu from Rambam's private office were recovered from a rented storage unit near Ploiești South railway station. The boxes contained appointment registers and property correspondence. Separate records documented restricted meetings. Investigators recovered the register containing Corneșanu's appointment and the disputed Balotești property record. Bălănescu's written statement from the earlier death investigation was also recovered.

On 22 May 2025, Yelena Zaretskaya and her daughter Milena Zaretskaya testified in person concerning Milena's abduction by Porno Bucharest in February 2024. Zaretskaya described her attempt to obtain police assistance and her subsequent rescue of Milena. She identified Jibbut Snagov as the armed man they encountered while escaping and stated that he lowered his weapon and allowed them to leave. Milena gave her own account and confirmed Snagov's actions.

Historical evidence concerning earlier Bucharest Butchers activity also entered the tribunal record. The daughter of a woman held by Constantin Vlădescu during his preparations for the 1966 CEC Palace massacre submitted her mother's written account during the 2025 proceedings.

Historian Corina Mureșan voluntarily provided investigators with the private archive she had assembled during her investigation of the Bucharest Butchers from 2005 until their collapse. She was subsequently appointed as an official historical expert attached to the tribunal. Mureșan compared seized Bucharest Butchers records with older documentation and reconstructed the chronology of people or properties that had appeared under different names during the organization's history.

Mureșan carried out most of this work outside the proceedings themselves but appeared personally when records from different periods required historical explanation. Material recovered after the collapse confirmed or revised parts of her earlier research. Her work was used particularly to examine the organization's development after Oskar Dirlewanger seized leadership in 1945 and its transformation during the 1945–1956 period.

See also

• Andrei Ionuț
• Bucharest Butchers
• Fish Collective
• Harku i Drenicës
• List of post-Tanoa tribunals
• Snubable Enterprise