Romanian prosecutors want to reopen 1989 Revolution case against former PM

The prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice have decided to reopen the case against former Romanian PM Petre Roman in the file investigating the 1989 Revolution.

The decision came as “the military prosecutors did not follow the requirements of ordinances and of the judges, since the investigative actions meant to accurately determine the situation concerning the events of the case were not undertaken,” according to a press release from the institution.

This spring, the prosecutors had dropped the charges against former prime minister Petre Roman for lack of sufficient evidence.

Roman called the decision a “political” one and said the reopening of the case is based on a “falsehood.”

“It contains an element of the absurd, totally absurd; it speaks of Petre Roman as prime minister at the date of the events. I only became a PM on December 27, I wasn’t one between December 22 and December 25, I did not have any special position, so it is already based on a falsehood, a crass falsehood,” Roman said, quoted by Stiritvr.ro.

He also said that he already offered all the arguments needed to have the case against him dropped and insisted he had nothing to do with “what is supposed to be or is investigated as an attempt to acquire military power.”

“The absurd of the request is revolting, and secondly, I find it revolting that all the arguments that I presented very clearly and which lead to the dropping of the case are now, politically, because I cannot qualify it any other way, are back on the table,” Roman said.

The investigation into the Romanian Revolution events was restarted in June 2016, after Augustin Lazar took office as general prosecutor, being part of his managerial project that helped him win this position. Lazar retired earlier this year.

Over 1,100 people were killed and 3,300 injured during the violent events in December 1989. Most people lost their lives or were injured in the armed confrontations that followed after dictator Nicolae Ceausescu fled Bucharest.

(Photo: Wikipedia)