With his bald head and piercing eyes reminiscent of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late leader of the Russian Wagner militia, French-Romanian mercenary Horatiu Potra has, in recent months, become one of the leading figures of the private armed groups operating in the chaotic eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since Sunday, December 8, Potra, a 54-year-old former member of the French Foreign Legion, has been in serious trouble in his native Romania for his troubling role in the campaign of pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu.

Romanian police arrested Potra on the night of December 7, while he was on his way to Bucharest. He was found in possession of knives and other edged weapons, around €30,000 in cash in various currencies and an air pistol. The head of Congo Protection is suspected by Ploiesti prosecutors of having attempted, along with other mercenaries active in Africa, to incite "violence" during demonstrations planned for that day to protest against the surprise cancelation of the second round of the Romanian presidential election on December 6.

"It is believed that [these seized objects] were to be used to incite certain individuals to commit crimes at unauthorized public gatherings and to reward them," said prosecutors in court documents reviewed by Le Monde. Romania was in the midst of political turmoil following the Constitutional Court's decision two days earlier to cancel the election, due to accusations of widespread manipulation of social media in favor of Georgescu. The pro-Russian candidate had called on his supporters to demonstrate outside closed polling stations.

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