Ion Iliescu

A Romanian court on Wednesday announced a criminal prosecution against former president Ion Iliescu for alleged crimes against humanity over the violent suppression of protests in 1990.

Iliescu was allegedly involved in the violent suppression of an opposition movement that organised protests in Bucharest for several weeks in mid-1990.

"There is no further evidence that Romania was complicit in the CIA's covert detention programme. We stand by the conclusion of the parliamentary inquiries, which uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing. And no new evidence has emerged in the meantime," MP Marius Obreja, the head of the Parliamentary Defence Committee, said on Saturday.

Corneliu Vadim Tudor, a politician known for his strongly nationalist and xenophobic views, died of cardiovascular disease in Bucharest on Monday. He was 65.

Tudor began his public career as a writer and poet and penned verses flattering Romania's former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Romania's former President Ion Iliescu on Monday said he has in no way confirmed the existence of an illegal CIA prison in Romania in an interview he has recently given to the German publication Der Spiegel.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin LUPSA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Romania's former president, Ion Iliescu, has said in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel that between 2002 and 2003 he approved "in principle" a US request for the CIA  to set up a centre in Romania.

The meeting of the National Council of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) began on Friday at the Parliament Palace, in the presence of the party president, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, and of other members of its leadership; the honorary president of the PSD, Ion Iliescu, former President of Romania, did not attend.

Photo credit: (c) Liviu SOVA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Romania's Supreme Court on Monday said it had reopened a case on the miners' uprising of June 13-15, 1990, and had annulled previous rulings not to prosecute anyone in this case.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice confirmed on Monday the decision of General Prosecutor Tiberiu Nitu to reopen the investigation on the June 13-15 1990 miners' riot, involving former President Ion Iliescu.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin LUPSA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

On Thursday at the French Embassy in Bucharest, Chairman of Romania's Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu was presented France's Knight of the Legion of Honour decoration, at a ceremony also attended by Princess Margareta, Prince Radu, former presidents Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu, along with political figures and more.

Photo credit: (c) SORIN LUPSA / AGERPRES STREAM

Former President Ion Iliescu characterized, on Thursday, Russia's action in the eastern Ukraine as being "a bit adventurous", declaring that he was surprised by Moscow's action, but showed that Russians have a "certain historic debt" as the current territory of Ukraine hosted the first Russian state and this, probably, sparks "certain sensibilities".