Romania’s military prosecutors send to court 1989 Revolution file, former president to stand trial for crimes agains humanity

Romania’s military prosecutors sent the 1989 Revolution case to court, general prosecutor Augustin Lazar announced on Monday, April 8.

Lazar asked for apologies for the lengthy investigation, which took over 30 years to complete. 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.

The case file has 3,330 volumes, 2,030 of which have been added since June 2016. Most of the indictment is based on evidence gathered since 2016, the general prosecutor added.

Among those indicted in this case are former president Ion Iliescu and two other former state officials involved in the December 1989 events, namely Gelu Voican Voiculescu (former deputy prime minister in the first government after the Revolution) and Iosif Rus (a former head of the Military Aviation). Iliescu was indicted for crimes against humanity.

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

Over 1,100 people were killed and 3,300 injured during the violent events in December 1989.

Augustin Lazar, who will end his first mandate as general prosecutor at the end of this month, is currently at the center of a big scandal in Romania after he was accused of refusing to grant the conditional release of a political prisoner (Iulius Filip) held at the Aiud prison on two occasions, in the 1980s, when he also served as head of the parole board at this prison. Lazar denied having collaborated with the political police and explained that the parole requests were assessed based on technical criteria that were the same for all inmates.

The scandal broke after Lazar submitted his application for a second mandate. Justice minister Tudorel Toader will interview him for the job on Wednesday. Last year, the justice minister officially asked president Klaus Iohannis to dismiss Augustin Lazar but the president refused. Politicians from the ruling coalitions asked again for Lazar's dismissal after this new scandal broke, accusing the general prosecutor of being morally compromised and the president of supporting him.

Augustin Lazar has been a vocal opponent of the justice reform promoted by the ruling coalition made led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since the beginning of 2017.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / George Calin)