 The group made a successful bid for escape on the night of December 2, 1920, and, following a short stay in Bulgaria, most escapees made their way to Moscow.On March 31, 1931, Nicolau was sentenced in absentia to death by the Romanian authorities.In Soviet Russia, he joined the local group of Romanian communists, and participated as a non-voting delegate in the Third World Congress of the Communist International, held in Moscow in June 1921.