European Court of Human Rights finds against Romania in 1989 Revolution death investigation

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against Romania in a case related to the 1989 Revolution. Romanian Catalina Filip complained to the ECHR back in 2009 on how her husband’s death was investigated. On December 25, 1989, during the Revolution, her husband was shot and killed at his home in Bucharest while he was sitting in front of a window. In 1990, the Bucharest Military Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal investigation in this case. In 2007, the file was joined to another case concerning acts of violence in Bucharest in December 1989. The investigation was still ongoing in 2009 when the Romanian woman addressed to ECHR. The Court has decided that the Romanian state should pay her EUR 15,000 for the lack of an effective investigation into the death of her husband, reports local Mediafax. This is not the first ruling the ECHR has made related to the 1989 Revolution in Romania. Eight other people, either injured in the Revolution or who have lost relatives in December 1989 events, were compensated with EUR 8,000 each following a Court’s decision in March. In January, ECHR ruled that Romania should pay over EUR 830,000 to 81 people. Other such rulings were made in previous years. According to statistics, 1,100 people were killed during the Revolution in 1989, over 3,000 were injured, and 760 were arrested. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com