Romanian prosecutors want 25-year jail for Communist-era prison commander

Romanian prosecutors have asked for a 25-year prison sentence for Communist-era prison commander Ion Ficior, who is currently on trial for crimes against humanity. They’ve made the request during the court hearing earlier this week, reports local Mediafax. The Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice sent Ion Ficior to trial in the summer of 2014 for crimes against humanity, as over 100 political prisoners died in the prison he ran in the late 50s. The case was based on a notification made by the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER). Ficior led the Periprava labor camp in Romania between 1958-1963. He is accused of introducing and coordinating a repressive, abusive and inhumane detention regime against the political prisoners in that period. Investigators found that 103 political prisoners died while Ficior was in charge of the labor camp. Ion Ficior is the second former prison commander in Romania accused of genocide, after Alexandru Visinescu, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com