Tribute to Ilie Ilaşcu
national day of mourning is today observed in the Republic of Moldova in memory of freedom fighter Ilie Ilaşcu
Ştefan Stoica, 20.11.2025, 13:50
On Thursday, Romanians on both sides of the Prut River, said their farewells to Ilie Ilaşcu, a notable leader of the national liberation movement of the 1990s and a former political prisoner of the separatist regime in Tiraspol between 1992 and 2001. Ilașcu passed away on Monday aged 73. President Maia Sandu declared a national day of mourning in memory of the man she described as someone who stood face to face with an aggressor state, resisted and remained free. According to the President of the Republic of Moldova, Ilie Ilaşcu will forever be remembered across generations as a symbol of resistance and for his fight for integrity.
“In the nine years of illegal detention, he was tortured, threatened, went through simulated executions with blanks to break him. But he never betrayed his country. Keeping his head high, Ilie Ilaşcu chose to face death for the independence of the Republic of Moldova and will remain a symbol for all Moldovans. It is important to pass on his lesson of patriotism to the younger generations…”, Maia Sandu argued.
Ilie Ilaşcu was among the founders of the National Liberation Movement and, prior to 1992, led the Tiraspol branch of the Popular Front of Moldova. He was directly involved in the battles on the Dniester, commanding the troops of the Ministry of National Security of the Republic of Moldova. On June 2, 1992, Ilie Ilaşcu, Andrei Ivanţoc, Alexandru Leşco and Tudor Petrov-Popa were arrested by Russian special forces. A year later, Ilaşcu was sentenced to death by an illegitimate court on the left bank of the Dniester. He remained in Transnistrian prisons from 1992 until 2001 under extremely harsh conditions, his detention involving isolation, psychological pressure, arbitrary restrictions and systematic violations of his rights. He was taken out of his cell four times to listen to the reading of the death sentence and four times shots were fired empty toward him against the wall.
On May 5, 2001, under pressure from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Union, Ilaşcu was transferred to Chişinău and handed over to the secret services of the Republic of Moldova and Romania. The other members of the group were gradually released. In 2004, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued its judgment in the case “Ilaşcu and others v. Moldova and Russia”, holding the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova responsible for torture, illegal deprivation of liberty and violation of the right to correspondence.
Ilie Ilaşcu was a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova for two terms, as well as a Romanian senator for two terms, between 2000 and 2008. Between 2001 and 2008, he was a full member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on behalf of the Romanian delegation.
On May 10, 2001, the President of Romania, Ion Iliescu, awarded him the “Star of Romania” National Order in rank of Knight. (VP)
