Romania Ex-President Faces Fresh Trial for 1989 Revolution Crimes

The former president of Romania, Ion Iliescu, faces trial once again in the case of the 1989 Romanian Revolution, which overthrew the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu after military prosecutors re-sent the case file to the court.

Prosecutors accuse Iliescu and the leader of Romania after the overthrow of Ceausescu of misleading the public through his televised appearances and press releases, amplifying a generalized psychosis of terrorism.

According to the indictment, this created a state of terror among a large part of the population.

The General Prosecutor's Office's sent the file on Wednesday back to the court after the head of the General Prosecutor's Office, Gabriela Scutea, declared that they had solved certain problems in the file pointed out by judges.

Iliescu, then president of the National Salvation Front Committee, CFSN; Gelu Voican Voiculescu, former Deputy Prime Minister, Iosif Rus, former commander of the Military Aviation; and Emil (Cico) Dumitrescu, a former member of the CFSN, are accused of crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors claim that about 12,600,000 cartridges were fired between December 22 -30, 1989, intentionally creating a feeling of terror and causing 862 deaths, 2,150 injuries, severe loss of freedom for hundreds of people and psychological injuries.

On April 8, 2019, prosecutors sent the file to the court. The file included 3,330 volumes, of which 2,030 were instrumented after June 13, 2016.

But the High Court of Cassation in 2021 ruled that the file should return to the Military Prosecutor's Office after the Supreme Court excluded several pieces of evidence submitted by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

Among them were reports drawn up by the Intelligence Service, SRI, and...