The name of Horațiu Potra appears over 840 times in the case in which he was indicted today. For several years, he led a „business” that sent Romanians to the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries to fight as mercenaries.
– [Călin Georgescu was indicted alongside Horațiu Potra. He is accused of orchestrating a violent plan to change the constitutional order](https://spotmedia.ro/stiri/eveniment/calin-georgescu-a-fost-trimis-in-judecata-alaturi-de-horatiu-potra-acuzatiile-parchetului)
Georgescu, Potra, and 20 other individuals were indicted for attempting actions against the constitutional order. The case is extensive, and besides the formulated accusations, it reveals the methods through which the mercenary leader recruited mercenaries for operations in Congo.
Potra, as seen in transcripts obtained by Mediafax, seemed accustomed to receiving calls from young individuals wanting to join his mercenary group. In one conversation attached to the case file, a 20-year-old calls Potra to join the mercenaries.
– [Călin Georgescu asked Potra for financial support of 20-35 million dollars. The mercenary leader also paid him a rent of 3,300 euros – indictment](https://spotmedia.ro/stiri/eveniment/calin-georgescu-i-a-cerut-lui-potra-sprijin-financiar-de-20-35-milioane-de-dolari-seful-mercenarilor-ii-platea-si-chiria-de-3-300-de-euro-rechizitoriu)
Potra is receptive but appears interested in the young man’s military training. Potra asks if the young man knows about ambushes, organizing, besides shooting well. The conversation indicates Potra’s involvement in recruiting mercenaries.
On December 18, 2024, at 16:44:55, Potra, located in Mediaș, Sibiu County, is contacted by a 20-year-old and has the following conversation:
– Potra: Hello!
– Young man: Hello! Good day, Mr. Horațiu!
– Potra: Yes, good day!
– Young man: My name is Pătru Rareș… I am 20 years old, a K1 fighter for 8 years, and I have very good physical condition, I know how to shoot well. I am a hunter…
– Potra: I heard. Send me a message on Whatsapp…
– Young man: Yes.
– Potra: I’ll give you a number to call for recruitment, as I don’t handle that.
– Young man: I know DRCV, I have friends there, with you in Congo, and they gave me the DRCV number, I don’t meet all the conditions. And I gave you the number on Whatsapp.
– Potra: I don’t know, that’s why I’m saying. Give it to me on Whatsapp, because I can’t do anything, I can’t decide. Understand? Because if there’s a problem, people will say Potra brought in unprepared people. There are military personnel handling recruitments.
– Young man: I believe you, but if I really know how to shoot well and have…
– Potra: Alright, I understand that you know how to shoot. Many know how to shoot. Have you been in any conflicts, done anything else? Do you know how to organize? Frontline instruction, ambushes, do you know about these?
– Young man: My father was in the military…
– Potra: Well, that’s different. I’m sorry. Let’s go, I’m busy as people keep calling, and I see, you called me on the regular phone, phones are tapped… we have nothing to hide, but I prefer not to have these discussions here. Thank you!
– Young man: Yes, yes, I gave you…”
Horațiu Potra seemed to receive calls from individuals wanting to join his mercenaries.
In another conversation attached by prosecutors, Potra is called by a man from Timișoara whom Potra directly asks if he wants to work in Congo. However, the man from Timișoara denies and says he wants to support Potra in his internal cause, mentioning his skills.
– Potra: Hello!
– Man: Hello, good Mr. Horațiu.
– Potra: Good.
– Man: Nicolae Popa, on the phone.
– Potra: From?
– Man: With Nicolae Popa. Nowhere.
– Potra: Ah! Nicolae Popa.
– Man: I have your phone number from some guys who were with you. When are you coming to Timișoara? Or how could we meet? I am one of the system’s outcasts. I was in the Intervention Platoon during the revolution, and… the first hero died in my arms. Being a soldier, I turned the weapons against my colleagues who were shooting. It’s a much longer story, and for these things, I’ve been chased away all my life. But let’s put that aside…
– Potra: Oh, in Timișoara? I can’t, I have no business in that area.
– Man: No? No. Maybe, I don’t know, let me see how I make time, and maybe I’ll come.
– Potra: What? I suspect what? Do you want to go to Congo, to work? Or what?
– Man: No. What… no, no, no! No, to be near you and move forward together.
– Potra: Oh! (laughs) We’ll meet and talk. From Timișoara? Were you in Timișoara during the revolution?
– Man: Yes, I was in the Intervention Platoon in Libertății!
– Potra: Only? I was at…
– Man: I was the one who stopped the shooting at the workers from OMT and 6Mai. I was a soldier, I was conscripted.
– Potra: Well, I haven’t… I haven’t… Yes, yes, I wasn’t there, I was there on the first day, on the 16th at the County Council when it started…
– Man: No, it was from the beginning.
– Potra: And after… well, no, but on the 16th there was nothing, because on the 16th there was…
– Man: Oh!
– Potra: The army wasn’t there yet.
– Man: On the 17th, yes.
– Potra: Exactly, on the 17th it started, yes.
Romanian mercenaries in Congo, mostly former military and foreign legionnaires, were recruited by Horațiu Potra to fight alongside the Congolese government against the M23 rebels. For a salary of around $5,000 per month, they provided training, security, and direct military support on the front line.
The adventure ended dramatically after the loss of the city of Goma, when nearly 300 Romanians were forced to surrender and be repatriated. Potra and his mercenaries also participated in other theaters in Africa.