RRI Live!

Listen to Radio Romania International Live

The miners’ riot case, back to the Prosecutor’s Office

Thirty years have passed but Romania is yet to clarify the darkest episode in its post-communist history.

The miners’ riot case, back to the Prosecutor’s Office
The miners’ riot case, back to the Prosecutor’s Office

, 09.05.2019, 13:09

Overshadowed by the EU summit in Sibiu
and the campaign for the European elections on the 26th of May, the
latest developments in the area of the judiciary are no less spectacular. On
Wednesday, the interim prosecutor general Bogdan Licu appealed a Supreme Court
ruling to send back to the Prosecutor’s Office the case of the so-called
miners’ riot of June 1990. Earlier, a preliminary chamber judge from the High
Court of Cassation and Justice has decided to return the case, deeming the
evidence presented as invalid.




Military prosecutors completed
investigations into the miners’ riot two years ago. They indicted 14 persons,
including some high-profile figures such as the former president Ion Iliescu,
the prime minister at the time Petre Roman, his deputy Gelu Voican Voiculescu
and the then director of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu. They
are accused of masterminding and directly coordinating the assault against the
protesters in the University Square, in the centre of Bucharest, who were
peacefully expressing their political views, views that contradicted those of
the majority in power at the time.




On the 20th of May 1990,
less than five months after the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist
dictatorship, Ion Iliescu, Ceasescu’s former minister from the 1970s and now
seen as one of the leaders of the revolution, won the country’s first free
presidential elections with 85% of the vote. His party, a heterogeneous mix of
genuine revolutionaries and second-rate communists, also won two thirds of
seats in Parliament.




The University Square, which had
been occupied as early as April by students and proclaimed a neo-communism
free area, had begun to empty, as the protesters were coming to terms with the
severe verdict of the elections. The place once full of tens of thousands of exuberant
and non-violent people was now only home to several dozen people on hunger
strike. On the evening of the 13th of June, the police started to
evacuate them from the square using disproportionate force, which was
reminiscent of the repression during the revolution.




It’s still not clear today if the
people who reacted the next day by engaging in street clashes with the police
and occupying the headquarters of the interior ministry and the public
television station had anything to do with the people who had protested in the
square. Iliescu and his people described them as legionnaires, a term
referring to the Romanian far right during the inter-war years, and, although
the army had already restored order, they called on the population to rescue
the democracy in danger. The miners from the Jiu Valley, in the centre,
responded to the call. They controlled the capital for only two days, the 14th
and the 15th of June, taking the place of any legal authority.
Enough time though to leave behind 1,300 people wounded, more than 1,000
abusive arrests and at least 6 people dead. A vandalised university and
ransacked headquarters of the opposition parties and independent newspapers
complete the picture of the invasion.




Five years ago, the European Court
of Human Rights ruled that Romania was to continue investigations into the
case, while the former prosecutor general Laura Codruta Kovesi admitted that
the inquiry into the miners’ riot was one of the biggest dissatisfactions in
the entire history of the public ministry.

Tags:
European Commission (photo: © European Union - Source: EC - Audiovisual Service / Photographer: Christophe Licoppe)
Today in the News Thursday, 21 November 2024

Political agreement on the new European Commission

    The leaders of the three major political groups in the European Parliament have given the green light to the members of the next...

Political agreement on the new European Commission
Photo: aep.ro
Today in the News Thursday, 21 November 2024

13 for Romania

    In Romania, presidential elections usually spark the greatest interest and emotions. Even more so this year, when the two rounds of the...

13 for Romania
Gas consumption in the EU (Credits: magnascan-pixabay-com)
Today in the News Wednesday, 20 November 2024

Romania’s natural gas, available for trading

On Tuesday, the Romanian company Romgaz launched its first issue of bonds on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, worth 500 million EUR. Romgaz is the...

Romania’s natural gas, available for trading
Photo: roaep.ro
Today in the News Tuesday, 19 November 2024

Romania ahead of the presidential election

Next month, President Klaus Iohannis will end his second and last five-year term in office according to the Romanian Constitution. The so-called...

Romania ahead of the presidential election
Today in the News Tuesday, 19 November 2024

Romania’s Prime Minister on a visit to Brussels

NATO welcomes Romania’s continuous efforts and its significant contribution to strengthening the Alliance and Euro-Atlantic security, NATO...

Romania’s Prime Minister on a visit to Brussels
Today in the News Monday, 18 November 2024

Downward forecast from the European Commission

Romania’s economic growth estimate has been recalculated by the European Commission (EC), at a value well below the initially established...

Downward forecast from the European Commission
Today in the News Monday, 18 November 2024

35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall, 35 years ago, represented for Romanians an encouragement in their fight for freedom, and the removal of the Iron Curtain...

35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
Today in the News Friday, 15 November 2024

European minimum wage in Romania

The law on the introduction of the European minimum wage in Romania was promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has...

European minimum wage in Romania

Partners

Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român
Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS
Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online
Institului European din România Institului European din România
Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti
Muzeul Național de Artă al României Muzeul Național de Artă al României
Le petit Journal Le petit Journal
Radio Prague International Radio Prague International
Muzeul Național de Istorie a României Muzeul Național de Istorie a României
ARCUB ARCUB
Radio Canada International Radio Canada International
Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti” Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti”
SWI swissinfo.ch SWI swissinfo.ch
UBB Radio ONLINE UBB Radio ONLINE
Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl
creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti
italradio italradio
Institutul Confucius Institutul Confucius
BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți

Affiliates

Euranet Plus Euranet Plus
AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters
Digital Radio Mondiale Digital Radio Mondiale
News and current affairs from Germany and around the world News and current affairs from Germany and around the world
Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona

Providers

RADIOCOM RADIOCOM
Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company