A series of shocking events, seemingly straight out of the Cosa Nostra’s playbook, are today shaking the Romanian political scene to its very foundations and exposing the true face of the AUR party. Under the leadership of George Simion, the party that promised to ‘save the nation’ is definitively abandoning the rules of the democratic game and embracing methods of intimidation, psychological terror and death threats typical of criminal organisations. The main target of this mafia-style assault is none other than Marius Lulea, the founding president of AUR, the man who created the party and who is now being systematically hunted down by his own ‘political son’, George Simion, who has since become a leader completely out of control.
Behind the populist speeches delivered from the parliamentary rostrum, George Simion is orchestrating, through intermediaries and party machinery, a campaign of violent harassment designed to silence any critical voice. Pig’s heads left at the gates of houses where children are sleeping, posters with cryptic ‘Diabolik’-style messages stuck up in the dead of night, and official party vehicles used for acts of vandalism and intimidation – these are the new weapons of AUR’s politics. This investigation reveals the details of nights of terror in the town of Tunari, proving that AUR no longer functions as a political party, but is taking on extremist traits, with the hallmarks of a Nazi-terrorist group, ready to resort to physical violence and even murder against those who do not blindly obey the ‘psychopath’ George Simion.
The Mafia’s Message: The pig’s head and the gaze of ‘Diabolik’
Last night marked the crossing of a red line that no Romanian politician has dared to cross in the last three decades. At Marius Lulea’s home in Tunari, Ilfov County, the family’s peace was shattered by an act of extreme symbolic violence. Inside the house were Lulea, his wife and the couple’s five children. Outside the garden, the ‘thugs’ sent to carry out the order to intimidate staged a macabre ritual.
A severed, skinned and bloodied pig’s head had been left at the foot of the gate. At the same time, large black-and-white posters depicting the menacing gaze of the comic-book character ‘Diabolik’ – a notorious criminal in Italian pop culture, known for his cruelty, robberies and perfect crimes – were stuck onto the gate and the utility box in front of the house.
This scenario is not merely a crude prank by a few wayward teenagers. It is a carefully planned modus operandi, copied directly from the practices of Sicilian and Calabrian mafia clans, where George Simion owns a luxury villa bought with money stolen from Romanians. In the language of organised crime, leaving behind a decapitated animal’s head (be it a pig’s or a horse’s) represents the final warning before the victim’s physical execution. It is a direct death threat. The psychological message that the attackers sought to convey to Marius Lulea and his family is devastating: “We know where you live. We can get to you and your children at any time. Nothing can protect you”.The association with the character “Diabolik” adds another dimension to this act of terror. Through this poster, George Simion is clearly telling his former mentor that he considers himself a ‘diabolical’ figure, an individual above the law, capable of committing crimes and destroying anyone who dares to oppose him, without leaving a trace. It is a sick display of power, intended to provoke panic, revulsion and public humiliation, targeting not only the individual but also the most intimate and secure space of a family. When the target of such a mafia-style threat is a house where five children are sleeping, the act goes beyond the bounds of political harassment and clearly falls within the realm of crime motivated by pathological hatred.
The cars of terror: the AUR fleet used for night-time intimidation
The campaign of terror was not confined to Marius Lulea’s home. Over the past week, a veritable night-time guerrilla operation has taken place in the town of Tunari. Several people – particularly former AUR members who had been expelled from the party or who had come into open conflict with George Simion – found the same ‘Diabolik’ posters stuck to their gates, cars or rubbish bins. To heighten the sense of siege, the attackers even vandalised the properties of the targets’ neighbours, in an attempt to socially isolate them and turn them into outcasts of the community.
Footage captured by CCTV cameras in the area and posted by panicked locals on social media (such as the Facebook group ‘Tunari – Tenants’ Community’) shows that the attacks were perfectly coordinated.
A still from a CCTV camera shows a car stopping in front of a courtyard at 23:53 on 9 October 2026. Another image captures a black car, an Audi Q5, speeding through the streets of Tunari in the dead of night at 02:13 on 10 October 2026. According to information obtained from sources, as of this hour, the investigating authorities have identified two cars directly involved in this intimidation network: the black Audi Q5 captured on camera and a white Dacia Logan. The truly explosive element – and the one that directly links these acts of terror to the party’s top leadership – is the fact that the Dacia Logan is reportedly officially registered to the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party itself. We are therefore not talking about the isolated actions of a few fanatical supporters, but about the use of the official resources of a parliamentary party, funded by public money, to orchestrate death threats against political opponents. This is the ultimate proof of the AUR’s transformation from a political party into an organisation with paramilitary tendencies, whose resources are being used to suppress freedom of expression through methods worthy of terrorist organisations.
Statement by Marius Lulea
I believe that what has happened constitutes a death threat and must be treated with the utmost seriousness by the Romanian state authorities. The posting of posters outside the homes of those considered adversaries is reminiscent of the intimidation tactics of the Sicilian mafia, as well as the methods used during the Nazi era to identify, stigmatise and intimidate opponents. In recent days, such posters have appeared outside the homes of several people who share a public opposition to George Simion. This is the connection I can state with certainty. I do not believe that, in the last 36 years since the fall of the communist regime, there has been another political leader in Romania who has been threatened in this way, right at their own home. Intimidation tactics reminiscent of Nazism must not be tolerated in a democratic Romania.I know George Simion well and believe he has completely lost his way. In the criminal complaint I have filed, I have named him as the main suspect in connection with these actions. This is my suspicion, and the authorities must establish the truth. I do not feel intimidated; I will not remain silent, nor will I speak any less. No one has the right to turn political disagreement into a threat to the safety of people and their families. Freedom of expression cannot be curtailed by fear.
This is not the first situation to raise such questions. Claudiu Târziu, for his part, complained about the prolonged presence, outside his party’s headquarters, of a car registered in the name of AUR, on which a camera was mounted. He regarded this situation as a form of intimidation and lodged a complaint; however, as far as I am aware, there have been no consequences. The Romanian state must not ignore such signals, nor should it wait for more serious incidents to occur before intervening.
I have lodged a criminal complaint and a criminal investigation is due to be opened. Forensic investigators are due to visit the scene to gather the necessary data and evidence. There is clear footage of the individuals involved and the car used. I am confident that the prosecutors and the courts will do their duty, identify those responsible and determine whether there are other individuals behind these actions who organised or coordinated them. Romania cannot become a place where people are threatened in their own homes because of their political views. Threats must be investigated, not tolerated, and those responsible must be held to account before the law.
Authorities step in: Tunari Town Hall is cooperating to apprehend the criminals
The seriousness of these incidents has triggered an immediate response. Alarmed by the scale of these mafia-style acts, residents of Tunari have alerted the authorities. The police and specialist units combating organised crime have been contacted, and investigations are in full swing. Fingerprints have been taken from the posters that were put up, and biological evidence from the scene (the abandoned pig’s head) is being analysed.
Tunari Town Hall also intervened promptly to support the investigation, officially announcing that it is making all video footage captured by the town’s street surveillance system available to the investigators. Analysis of this footage will enable the exact route taken by the party’s vehicles to be reconstructed and the faces of the ‘thugs’ sent by George Simion to carry out these acts of psychological terrorism to be identified. It is only a matter of time before the noose tightens around the perpetrators, but the major challenge for the prosecutors will be to prove the chain of command and hold to account the person who ordered and financed this punitive operation.
A party’s descent into the abyss of criminal extremism under the leadership of George Simion
The Tunari case marks a dangerous turning point for Romanian democracy. What began as a vociferous political movement, with nationalist overtones and anti-establishment rhetoric, has degenerated under George Simion’s paranoid leadership into a closed, sectarian structure operating according to mafia-style rules. The ousting of its own founder, Marius Lulea – the man who gave it a platform and supported it unconditionally – is in itself an act of political betrayal. But resorting to death threats, skinning animals at the gates of houses where children are sleeping, and using the party’s resources to sow terror in the dead of night go beyond any bounds of political struggle.
Under George Simion’s dictatorship, AUR has become a real threat to public safety. When a party leader orders or tolerates his opponents receiving coded ‘Diabolik’-style messages and pig’s heads, he is no longer a politician. He becomes a leader of organised crime, a dangerous individual who uses his followers as ‘missiles’ to instil fear. If the state institutions do not react with the utmost firmness, nipping this octopus of psychological terror in the bud, this organisation’s next step will no longer be putting up posters, but shedding blood. George Simion has made it clear that he is prepared to go all the way. It remains to be seen whether the Romanian state is capable of stopping him before it is too late.
