Wiz Khalifa has had a nine-month prison sentence in Romania overturned, though the drug possession case against him is not over. The Bucharest Court of Appeal annulled the sentence, which stemmed from a 2024 festival appearance, according to Romanian news agency AGERPRES as cited by Hip-Hop Network’s source report.
What the court decided
On Tuesday, November 3, the court granted a challenge filed by the rapper’s attorneys. It annulled the December 18, 2025, judgment that would have required him to serve nine months in prison, and it also canceled the warrant issued to enforce that sentence.
How the case began
The case dates to July 13, 2024, when Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, performed at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinești, on Romania’s Black Sea coast. Romanian prosecutors alleged he possessed 18.53 grams of cannabis and a marijuana cigarette, some of which he smoked onstage.
He was briefly detained and questioned, then released and allowed to leave the country. On X, he wrote that he did not mean any disrespect to Romania by lighting up on stage. He also said the officers had been respectful toward him.
From a fine to a prison term
In April 2025, the Constanța Tribunal fined him 3,600 Romanian lei, about $830 at the time, for unlawful possession of cannabis for personal consumption. Prosecutors from DIICOT, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, appealed, arguing the fine was not enough.
In December 2025, the Constanța Court of Appeal overturned the fine and sentenced him to nine months in prison. The judgment was issued in his absence. An earlier attempt by his legal team to overturn it failed in February 2026. The case then moved to Bucharest, where his attorneys sought an extraordinary remedy to annul the appellate ruling.
What happens next
The latest ruling is not an acquittal. The judges ordered a rehearing of the prosecution’s original appeal against the financial penalty. That hearing is set for November 12 at 4 p.m. local time before the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The court also directed officials to arrange for Khalifa to take part by videoconference, so he may not need to travel to Romania.
The case drew international attention because the 39-year-old artist, known for songs including “Black and Yellow,” “See You Again” and “Young, Wild & Free,” has long been an advocate of marijuana use. Romanian law treats unauthorized possession of cannabis for personal use as a criminal offense, even though several U.S. states have legalized recreational use.
For now, Khalifa no longer faces an enforceable prison sentence in Romania, but the outcome of the November 12 hearing will determine the next stage of the case.
Source: thesource.com
Image: Rickmunroe01 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
