Wiz Khalifa’s Nine-Month Prison Sentence in Romania Just Got Wiped Out — But His Case Isn’t Over
Wiz Khalifa just caught the biggest break yet in his two-year legal fight overseas.
On Tuesday, November 3, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in Wiz’s favor, annulling the nine-month prison sentence hanging over him in Romania and canceling the warrant issued to enforce it, according to Romanian news agency AGERPRES, as reported by The Source and Hip-Hop Wired.
Before anybody pops bottles, here is the part that matters: Wiz has not been acquitted. The court threw out the prison judgment, but the underlying possession case is still alive. Judges ordered a rehearing of the prosecution’s appeal, and that hearing is set for November 12 at 4 p.m. local time in Bucharest. The court has also directed officials to arrange for Wiz to appear by videoconference, so he may not have to set foot in Romania to fight it.
The case goes back to July 13, 2024, when Wiz performed at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinești, on Romania’s Black Sea coast. Prosecutors alleged he was carrying 18.53 grams of cannabis and a marijuana cigarette, and that he smoked onstage during the show. He was detained and questioned, then released and allowed to leave the country. Afterward, he addressed it on X: “I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage,” adding that the officers who dealt with him were respectful.
At first, the whole thing looked finished. In April 2025, the Constanța Tribunal fined him 3,600 Romanian lei — about $830 — for unlawful possession of cannabis for personal use. But DIICOT, Romania’s organized crime and terrorism prosecution directorate, appealed, arguing the fine was too light. In December 2025, the Constanța Court of Appeal agreed with prosecutors, tossed the fine, and sentenced Wiz to nine months in prison, in a judgment issued in his absence. An earlier attempt to overturn that sentence failed in February 2026, so his team pushed an extraordinary legal challenge in Bucharest — and that is the one that just landed.
Romania’s drug laws are far stricter than what American artists are used to at home: possession of cannabis for personal use is still a criminal offense there. That gap between U.S. cannabis culture and the laws in the countries on a tour route is what this case has been about from day one.
So where does it stand? The nine-month sentence and its enforcement warrant are gone. On November 12, prosecutors argue their appeal of the original fine again, and the court decides what replaces it — the fine, or something heavier. Wiz is out from under the prison clock for now, but this story has one more court date before it is closed.
