Ana Pauker as their leader. According to an oral statement by Gheorghiu-Dej, Pauker feigned perplexity upon being confronted with Foriș's ouster: "But who was it that has replaced an elected leadership?" In his defense of Gheorghiu-Dej, Apostol claims that Pauker and he "Muscovites" had secretly hoped for a Foriș–Luca–Pauker troika, which would have overseen Romania's full dismemberment—with Hungary annexing Transylvania, and Western Moldavia absorbed by the Moldavian SSR (see Greater Moldova). Foriș's removal, Apostol concludes, was a preemptive strike to ensure that Romania could be recognized by the Allies. Apostol further claims that, in 1944, Gheorghiu-Dej had already consolidated his reputation as a figure in Romanian national-communism, whereas Foriș was an "anti-national", taking Romania itself "to the brink of destruction". The issue was not explored further (Pauker "never sketched a single perceptible gesture toward having Foriș recovered"), and the former general secretary continued to be regarded as a dangerous character. On 6 January 1945, there was an apparent break in his persecution, with Bodnăraș informing him that he had been found innocent and would be sent to do agitprop work in Cluj County. After rumors that he had authored a manifesto questioning the actions of Gheorghiu-Dej, Bodnăraș and others, he was again captured on 23 March, only to be released twenty days later. During that interval, he went on hunger strike and authored his "Last Will", which ended with a statement of his faith in the PCR, the Soviet Union, and Joseph Stalin. His last time in relative freedom occurred during late May and early June, when he was allowed to move in with his companion Victoria. On 9 June, a squad led by Pintilie approached Foriș on Calea Victoriei, and again kidnapped him. Apparently, this happened while Foriș was purchasing supplies needed for a trip to Hungary, having planned to settle with his family in a house owned by one of Victoria's brothers. In the 1960s, Pintilie, who was serving as Securitate chief, told prosecutor Grigore Răduică that the Soviet Embassy had asked Gheorghiu-Dej to have "Marius" murdered before the Allied Commission could investigate the case. Răduică reports that this was "around February 1945", which is more than a year before Foriș's death, as documented in other sources. As historian Robert Levy notes, this one-year interval reflects the total period that Foriș spent as Pintilie's prisoner. According to various reports, his killing was ultimately decided through a confidential vote