Pressure Mounts on Romania Govt Over Teen’s Murder

The tardy response of the police in Romania to the distress calls of murdered teen Alexandra Macesanu continues to unleash a wave of indignation and political strife in the country - which some say echoes the response to a deadly nightclub fire in Bucharest in 2015.

Opposition politicians and many in social media and those taking part in street protests have demanded that the Social Democrat-led government step down, citing the alleged incompetence of those in charge of the emergency services. 

The row already led to the resignation of the Interior Minister, Nicolae Moga, on Tuesday.

Staff who dealt with the abducted 15-year-old's calls treated her with contempt and cynicism, critics say. The fact that police took 19 hours to locate the house in the southern city of Caracal from where she was calling shows their inefficiency and lack of expertise, they add.

The government has attempted to deflect criticism by proposing much tougher punishments for convicted killers. Hours after the arrest of the main suspect - who has since confessed to abducting and killing Macesanu and another missing 18-year-old girl - Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Facebook that officials were considering "a referendum on implementing drastic punishment for murderers, rapists and paedophiles, such as life imprisonment or chemical castration". 

Romanian Interior Minister Nicolae Moga, 66, leaves the room after announcing his resignation, amid the Caracal tragedy scandal, at the Government Headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, 30 July 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT

Centre-right President Klaus Iohannis has joined in the row, accusing the main ruling Social Democratic Party, PSD, and the government it leads of handling the case badly, asking...