Alexandru Visinescu

Romanian criminal prosecutors at the Supreme Court on Thursday indicted a former communist-era prison warden under whose watch 102 detainees - 90 of them political prisoners - were killed and buried in mass graves in the eastern Danube port of Galati between 1959 and 1961.

Retired Colonel Marian Petrescu, 86, is charged with inhuman treatment of detainees.

A Romanian court on Wednesday sentenced former jail commander Ioan Ficior to 20 years in prison for the deaths of 103 political prisoners during the Communist regime.

He has 10 days to appeal.

This was the second trial of a head of a Communist-era lockup in Romania since dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was tried and executed in 1989.

Romania's high court of cassation and justice on Wednesday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Alexandru Visinescu, a former prison commander accused of aggravated murder in the deaths of at least 12 political prisoners during the Communist regime

This was the first trial of a head of a Communist-era lockup in Romania since dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was tried and executed in 1989.

Romania's Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism, IICCMER, asked the general prosecutor on Wednesday to bring murder charges against three former prison officers for the death of dozens of political prisoners during the Communist period.

A Bucharest court on Wednesday started the trial of Alexandru Visinescu, a former prison commander accused of aggravated murder in the deaths of at least 12 political prisoners under the Communist regime.

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A Romanian court on Monday started the trial of Ion Ficioru, former commander of a Communist-era labour camp, who is charged with crimes against humanity for the deaths of 103 political prisoners half a century ago.