September 3, 2013
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Corina Cristea, 03.09.2013, 12:13
Romanian prosecutors have put under criminal investigation the current minister of the economy, Varujan Vosganian, from the Liberal Party, in the ruling coalition, and the former minister, Adriean Videanu, from the Liberal Democratic Party, now in the opposition. The two are accused of facilitating preferential gas prices granted by Romgaz, the Romanian state company, to a company called InterAgro, causing the Romanian state to incur damages worth 130 million dollars. The two have denied all accusations.
88 year-old former prison commander Alexandru Visinescu was indicted on Tuesday in Bucharest for genocide, the first to be prosecuted under this accusation since the trial of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. He was warden during the communist period at the Ramnicu Sarat prison, part of the Romanian gulag. He was called in for statements by prosecutors in the case filed against him by the Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism, in which he is accused of being responsible for numerous deaths among political prisoners between 1956 and 1963. Many of the victims died as a result of the extreme conditions to which the warden’s policies submitted them. Visinescu is among the 35 top criminal enforcers of the communist regime singled out by the Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism.
Hundreds continued protests for the second day in a row in Bucharest against the controversial bill allowing gold mining at the Rosia Montana site using cyanides. The new, renegotiated bill was endorsed by the government last week, and will go to Parliament for debated. President Traian Basescu said he favored a decision by referendum, to coincide with elections for Euro MPs in 2014. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he was in agreement with the proposal. Stay tuned for more after the news.
3,000 Romanian artists and 1,500 foreign artists will perform this entire month at the George Enescu International Festival, the most important of its kind in Romania. Monday night, on the festival’s second day, German pianist of Romanian origin Radu Lupu performed for a sold out audience, accompanied by the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra, conduced by Daniel Barenboim. Over 150 events are scheduled for the festival between September 1 and 28 in Bucharest and several large cities in the country. Radio Romania, a major partner in the festival since its inception in 1958, broadcasts live 63 of the concerts on the line-up, 59 of them re-broadcast by EU partner stations.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 21st seed, ranking 19 in the WTA, missed the qualification for the quarter finals in the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the Year. She was defeated by Italian Flavia Pennetta, ranking 83rd in the world. Simona Halep is now at the height of her career so far, managing to win four tournaments in only a few months.
