November 10, 2025 UPDATE (1)
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 10.11.2025, 17:46
Grigore Alexandru Ghyka
In the county of Vrancea (southeast), events were scheduled on Monday to mark the repatriation of the coffin of Grigore Alexandru Ghyka, the last ruler of Moldavia before the Union of the Romanian Principalities in 1859. After being exhumed on November 7 from a settlement near Paris, the coffin with the earthly remains of the ruler was brought with military honors to Bucharest, where it was placed at the Presidency. A ceremony was held there with the participation of President Nicuşor Dan, who laid a wreath and lit candles. The ruler’s remains will be buried on Wednesday in Iaşi (northeast).
Grigore Alexandru Ghica, who ruled Moldavia between 1849 and 1856, is described by historians as one of the most visionary figures of the 19th century. He was a unionist activist who paved the way for the Union of the Romanian Principalities in 1859 and promoted essential values for modern society: freedom, social justice and dignity. He supported courageous reforms, from the emancipation of the Roma and the abolition of censorship, to the development of public services and the introduction of a government model inspired by the great European democracies. He also founded the first maternity hospital in Moldavia using his own funds.
His repatriation represents not only an act of symbolic restoration but also a gesture of national gratitude towards a leader who laid the foundations of the modern Romanian state, Bucharest authorities say.
France – Sarkozy to be released from prison
The Paris Court of Appeal ordered on Monday the release and placement under judicial control of former French President Nicolas Sarközy, who had been in prison for twenty days following his sentencing in the case of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, France Presse reports.
Sarközy, 70 years old, was imprisoned after being handed down a five-year prison sentence. He requested conditional release shortly after starting to serve his sentence. In France, such a provision applies to prisoners aged 70 and over, allowing them to serve their sentence outside prison under certain conditions.
The Libyan financing case consists of allegations that Sarközy’s presidential campaign received illegal funds from the regime of Libya’s de facto leader at the time, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Although the Paris criminal court found no evidence of illegal campaign funds, it concluded in its ruling that the conservative politician and close ally of Gaddafi at least attempted to obtain funds from the Libyan leader. (VP)
