rebellion, he had spent two years in prison before escaping to the German-occupied Serbian Banat. Involved in the legionary movement underground, he was arrested by the Nazi authorities in June 1944 and sent to join the other Iron Guard refugees. Both Puiu and Boldeanu would play a significant role in the Romanian Orthodox community in Paris after the war. Exile in Italy and trial for war crimes Puiu's whereabouts in the first years after the war are uncertain. While a document trail exists, it is hard to establish a chronology. His presence in Italy between 1945 and 1947 is confirmed, however his exact locations are subject to debate. Some sources cite the as Puiu's place of refuge, under the protection of Pope Pius XII and Cardinal Tisserant, but Puiu's surviving correspondence seems to indicate this was not a permanent place of residence. Meanwhile, in Romania, the People's Tribunal were set up to prosecute perpetrators of the Holocaust, members of Antonescu's government and prominent legionnaires. Out of 2,700 defendants, only 668 were convicted. The others were released for lack of evidence. Furthermore, of those convicted, many would benefit from an amnesty in 1950. Prosecutors focused more on establishing links with the previous regime rather than thoroughly investigating genocide accusations. This was also true for the clergy involved in crimes committed in Transnistria. Thus, many Romanians came to see these trials as a result of Soviet occupation rather than as an attempt to carry out justice in matters of mass murder. Tried by the People's Tribunal in Bucharest, Puiu was sentenced to death in absentia on 21 February 1946. Two charges were pressed against him: having "encouraged, from his position, the terror actions in Bessarabia and Transnistria" and having placed "himself in the service of Hitlerism, and selling off the country's interests by occupying the Religions' Secretary office, as it is made clear by a news dispatch broadcast by the German Radio Donau on 14 December 1944, at 0.30 a.m." The prosecution also mentioned another Radio Donau broadcast, dated New Year 1945, when Puiu allegedly incited Romanians to disobey Soviet orders. According to Popa, it was the second charge that the prosecution and the court focused on, the sentence designating Puiu as Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Germany by "a decree signed by Horia Sima, in his position as head of the traitor government in Germany". At no point do