Ion Iliescu

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.

Romania's High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled on Thursday in favour of reopening the criminal investigation into former president Ion Iliescu over the so-called "Mineriada" events of June 13-15, 1990.

Iliescu summoned miners from the biggest mining basins in Romania, in Valea Jiului, to Bucharest to "restore order" against pro-Western parties who were demanding new elections.

Sales at Artmark auction house in the first half of the year totaled 6.58 million euros, the highest-selling lot being the Rombac 1-11 presidential plane used by former state leaders Ion Iliescu and Traian Basescu, the auction house said in a release. In H1 2021 the total volume of Artmark auctions increased 7 percent from 6.16 million euros in the first half of 2020 to 6.58 million euros.

The violent events of 13-15 June 1990 remained known in post-communist memory as "Mineriad of 13-15 June 1990" and refer to the repression, by law enforcement forces, with the help of miners, of protest rallies in the University Square of that period.

On 20 May 1990, 30 years ago, the first presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Romania, after the fall of the communist regime and after the December 1989 Revolution. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on the basis of Decree-Law No.

On February 6, 1990, the National Salvation Front (FSN) registered with the Bucharest Municipal Court after a decision to run in elections as a political formation with its own manifesto, according to 'Romania. Data and Facts. 1989-2009,' published by the AGERPRES National News Agency (2010).

The government adopted at its Monday sitting the emergency ordinance providing for the dismantling of the December 1989 Romanian Revolution Institute headed by former President Ion Iliescu as chairman, Gelu Voican Voiculescu - as managing director, and Emilian Cutean as secretary general.

Romania was the only country facing wide spread violence during the 1989 revolutions; officially, 1,104 people died and 3,300 were injured. Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship, believed to be the most brutal and repressive in Eastern Europe, was without doubt one of the main reasons for such a tragic end - as the work ''The 1989 Revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe.

Romania needs an active and present president, who does not step in only when crisis strikes, Save Romania Union (USR) presidential hopeful Dan Barna tells AGERPRES in an interview. He adds that if he wins the elections, Romania will have for the first time a president from the private sector, after "two teachers, a book publisher and a ship commander" who came from the public sector.

Mircea Diaconu, independent candidate for the presidential election supported by the "Un om" (A human being) electoral alliance, made up of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and PRO Romania, said in an interview with AGERPRES that he does not deem necessary a modification of the Constitution, inasmuch as everything should first be laid down on the existing "order of law".