The file of the 1989 Revolution in court

The indictment in the 1989 anti-communist Revolution file has been submitted to court.

Roxana Vasile, 09.04.2019, 13:26

This year, in December, it will be 30 years since the anti-communist Revolution which started in the western city of Timisoara, extended to Bucharest and then to the whole of Romania. More than 1,000 people were killed and some 3,000 were wounded in the fighting at that time, Romania thus becoming the only East European country where the regime was toppled through violence and where the communist leaders Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed.

One of the then slogans “Who shot at us on 16th to -22nd?” became the question obsessively asked during the 30 years since the fall of communism. Better late than never! — many exclaimed after the general prosecutor of Romania, Augustin Lazar, had announced that the indictment in the 1989 Revolution file had been submitted to court, after years of investigations.

Augustin Lazar: “In time, cultural personalities, politicians, investigators, historians have put forth various theories, explanations and estimates about the December 1989 events. Today, jurists are putting an end to this challenge, presenting the judicial truth as a component of a very complex investigation which started out from the idea that the responsibility for the victims of the December 1989 revolution is not an institutional one, but a direct, individual responsibility.”

Investigations have shown that against the background of a generalized psychosis related to terrorism, soldiers started shooting chaotically and contradictory military orders were given resulting in casualties, injuries, unlawful deprivation of freedom and psychological traumas. Moreover, conditions were created for the conviction and execution of the Ceausescu presidential couple through a mock trial.

Last but not least, the former president Ion Iliescu and the former deputy prime minister, Gelu Voican Voiculescu have been charged in the file for crimes against humanity. They allegedly launched diversions and disinformation in order to take over power.

The completion of the Revolution file and its submission to court have sparked off various reactions from politicians in Bucharest. On the one hand, president Klaus Iohannis and the opposition National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union party have hailed the announcement made by the prosecutor general Augustin Lazar, considering it an extremely important step towards establishing the truth.

On the other hand, the ruling Social-Democratic Party believes that the truth should have been uncovered long ago, and that the file could have been forwarded to court one month later, after the European Parliament elections. The same Social Democrats are outraged that the Revolution file was forwarded to court by Augustin Lazar, who has been subject to serious accusations following recent media disclosures. In the 1980s, when he was a member of the commission for the release of detainees within the Penitentiary in the central town of Aiud, one of the toughest of the repressive communist regime, Augustin Lazar allegedly refused the release on parole of some anticommunist dissidents.