Romanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged Călin Georgescu — who rose from obscurity to win the first round of a presidential election before being barred from running — with planning a violent coup.

The charges stem from a dramatic police operation in December 2024, when officers intercepted 21 people, some armed with knives and guns, heading to Bucharest.

Romanian prosecutors said in a press release that the armed group was planning to instigate clashes and carry out “violent actions of a subversive nature”, and endanger national security and the “constitutional order.”

Georgescu was not named in the press release but has been identified by Romanian media as one of the plotters of the coup along with Horaţiu Potra, the leader of a paramilitary group. The press release refers to him as a “former presidential candidate.”

Prosecutors said Georgescu and Potra met on Dec. 7 to mastermind the coup after the Constitutional Court on Dec. 6 annulled the first round of November’s presidential election, which Georgescu won, due to an alleged Russian influence operation.

Georgescu, a far-right firebrand and NATO skeptic, was later disqualified from running in the do-over May election.

The court decisions threw Romania into political chaos, with thousands taking to the streets across the country. According to the prosecutors, Georgescu aimed to exploit the ensuing “maximum social tension” to generate further unrest and “change the constitutional order or to make it more difficult or prevent the exercise of state power.”

All 21 participants in the alleged coup attempt, who are members of Potra’s paramilitary group, will face trial. Potra’s whereabouts are unknown but Romanian authorities believe he is seeking asylum in Russia, Romania’s Prosecutor General Alex Florenta said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Florenta added Romania was “was the favorite target of extensive, hybrid campaigns” by Moscow, including cyberattacks and disinformation, to disrupt the 2024 election.