Elena Udrea remains in prison after the Supreme Court on Monday finally rejected her latest appeal against a decision that sentenced her to six years in prison in the Hala Bute case.

The Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) rejected the appeals filed by former Minister of Tourism Elena Udrea and former President of the Romanian Boxing Federation Rudel Obreja.

• “Rejects as unfounded the cassation appeals filed by the convicts Udrea Elena Gabriela and Obreja Rudel against the criminal resolution No. 93 of June 5, 2018, issued by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, a panel of 5 judges, in case No. 2303 /1/2017.
• “On the basis of part (2) of Article 275 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the convicted appellants are obliged to pay the state the sum of 500 lei each as court costs.
• On the basis of Art. 275 paragraphs (6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the fees due to the defenders appointed ex officio for the convicted appellants, before the representation of the chosen defenders, in the amount of 170 lei, remain the responsibility of the state”, this is the decision handed down by the ICCJ on Monday.

The court’s decision is final.

Udrea is in the Tirgshore Penitentiary, where he is serving a 6-year term in the “Gala Bute” case. She challenged the sentence through two extraordinary appeals, both of which were rejected by the Supreme Court.

After the final verdict in the case of Hala Bute, Udrea tried to flee the country and was caught in Bulgaria, where she was detained for more than two months, during which the extradition process continued. On June 16, she was brought to Romania and imprisoned.

Elena Udrea is also on trial in the Hidroelectrica case and in the case of financing the election campaign of Trajan Basescu since 2009.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice issued an important decision on the special statute of limitations following the decision of the Constitutional Court, according to which the provisions of Article 155 of the Criminal Code on the interruption of the statute of limitations for criminal liability are unconstitutional. The effect is that thousands of defendants could get rid of their files, and the list of beneficiaries includes Elena Udrea, who could get rid of the Hidroelectrica case and the case related to financing the election campaign of Traian Basescu since 2009.