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:
November 1 - National Radio Day
Today in the News Friday, 01 November 2024

Radio Romania 96

Radio Romania has celebrated 96 years since it first entered the listeners houses from Romania and abroad. On November 1 1928 the Romanians were able...

Radio Romania 96
(Photo: pixabay@Engin_Akyurt)
Today in the News Thursday, 31 October 2024

Romanians’ concerns

Romanians and Austrians are the most satisfied with their lives among the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe, but the former are significantly...

Romanians’ concerns
Elections in Moldova (Photo: Radio Chișinău)
Today in the News Thursday, 31 October 2024

Republic of Moldova, crucial final

On November 3, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova have to choose, for the position of head of state, between the pro-European Maia Sandu, the...

Republic of Moldova, crucial final
Foto: Baza 71 Aeriană / MApn
Today in the News Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Drones, a security issue

The Romanian Ministry of National Defense has placed under decisional transparency a bill that improves airspace security measures. The bill, which...

Drones, a security issue
Today in the News Wednesday, 30 October 2024

The Fugitive Law is constitutional

The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) has rejected the referral of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) in relation to the so-called...

The Fugitive Law is constitutional
Today in the News Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Challenges of an ageing population

Romanians are getting fewer and older.   The population of Romania in mid-2024 was 21,779,000, down 1% compared to June 1, 2023. According to...

Challenges of an ageing population
Today in the News Monday, 28 October 2024

Romania sees rising public debt levels

Government debt rose in July to over 876 billion lei (that’s around 175 billion euros), from 860 billion lei in the previous month, according to...

Romania sees rising public debt levels
Today in the News Monday, 28 October 2024

Presidential debate in the Republic of Moldova

An unusual electoral debate, in form, but predictable in content, had as protagonists, on Sunday, the two remaining candidates in the presidential...

Presidential debate in the Republic of Moldova

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