Melescanu, on December '89 events: I saw in foreign press about clashes between army and protesters

The President of the Senate, Teodor Melescanu, said on Wednesday that in December 1989, when he was in Vienna, he did not receive any information from the country regarding the events in Timisoara and mentioned that he saw in the foreign press that clashes were taking place between the army and the protestors, resulting in loss of human lives. "At the end of the meeting [ed.n. - in Vienna], the Swiss ambassador, who was also the president of the works, officially asked the Romanian delegation for information regarding the situation in Timisoara. As I, first secretary, was the only one left in the room from the Romanian delegation, I said the following: I did not receive any information from the country regarding the events in Timisoara. I saw from the foreign press that clashes took place between the army and the protesters, which resulted in loss of human lives. I finally said that if the information is confirmed, then those who have been guilty must take responsibility," said Melescanu. He added that, at that time, the Romanian state did not have the capacity to give him "instructions or information". "I assure you that at that time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian administration were in a position in which they did not have the capacity to give us new instructions or information," said Melescanu. Teodor Melescanu was asked how he responds to the referral made by the Institute for Investigation of Communism Crimes and the Memory of Romanian Exile (IICCMER) on how he acted as a representative of the Romanian delegation at the meetings in Vienna from December 19-20, 1989. The IICCMER has taken notice ex officio about the way in which Teodor Melescanu acted as representative of the Romanian delegation at the meetings in Vienna from December 19-20, 1989. According to the diplomatic telegrams, Teodor Melescanu would have participated, in an official capacity, in the misinformation and diversion exercised by the totalitarian communist regime, mention the representatives of the institute.AGERPRES(RO - author: Sorinel Penes, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)