Investigation of fall of communism in Romania gets nowhere 30 years on

A judge of the preliminary chamber of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) decided on May 21 to return to the Military Prosecutor's Office the so-called "File of the Revolution," Agerpresreported.

In the file, former president Ion Iliescu and former deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu are indicted for crimes against humanity concerning the events of December 1989, when the communist regime collapsed and Nicolae Ceausescu was executed upon a brief trial.

The file was sent to court by military prosecutors in April 2019. It involves over 5,000 injured parties.

The trial was blocked for more than a year to discuss requests and exceptions raised by the parties to the case.

Eventually, ICCJ excluded most of the pieces of evidence provided by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

The prosecutors argue in their file that a dissident faction of the Communist Party headed by Ion Iliescu took control over the key law enforcement institutions in December 1989 and, starting with December 22, organized a disinformation campaign aimed at bringing them legitimacy.

The research focused on the fact that by establishing a "generalized psychosis of terrorism", numerous situations of fratricidal fire, chaotic shootings, contradictory military orders have been created.

"Research has shown that terrorist psychosis was intentionally induced by diversions and misinformation and caused, after December 22, 1989, some 862 deaths, 2,150 injuries, the severe deprivation of liberty of hundreds of people, mental injuries. These tragic consequences were much more serious than those of the repression exercised between December 17 and 22, 1989 (12.00) [when Nicolae Ceausescu was still in control of the power]", the military prosecutors claim.

(Photo: Wikipedia)