Romanian Police Investigate Assault and Rape of Foreign Students During Hitchhiking Trip

The couple had chosen hitchhiking to make the trip. They got into a car with four unknown people. It was during this trip that a disagreement broke out.

The altercation had serious consequences. The Moroccan student was, according to local media, forced to leave the vehicle and was beaten. His travel companion was sexually assaulted by the other occupants.

Following the alert given by the young man, the police intervened and apprehended the four individuals involved. The precise course of events still needs to be established by the ongoing investigation.

The prosecutor’s office decided to place two of the suspects, aged 24 and 32, in pre-trial detention. The other two were placed under judicial supervision.

Sorin Bucurescu, mayor of Slivilești, the hometown of the accused, expressed his incomprehension: "I don’t understand why these people committed this criminal act, nor do I understand why they covered their faces at the time of their arrest, when they felt no shame when they perpetrated these acts."