Communist Crimes, Memory and Retribution

Hundreds of people, including political detainess and their descendatns, attended the public unveiling of the monument 'Wings', devoted to the anti-communist dissidents in Romania and Bessarabia.

Corina Cristea, 31.05.2016, 14:05

All through the 45 years of
communist dictatorship, Romanians were told a lie about the history of their
nation. They were told there had been no resistance to communism, and that
Romanians opted for and supported the communist regime. We now know, beyond a
shadow of a doubt, that communism was brought to Romania by a foreign
occupation army, against the will of the people, through murders, terror and
armed violence. The statement belongs to President Klaus Iohannis, who on
Monday attended the public unveiling of the monument Wings by sculptor Mihai
Buculei, the son of a former political prisoner, devoted to the anti-communist
resistance of 1945-1989 in Romania and Bessarabia.

The monument has a symbolic
value, Klaus Iohannis went on to say. What greater irony and victory could
there be in the fact that the monument stands in the very place where, 27 years
ago, the statue of Lenin, one of history’s greatest evils, reigned supreme as
an iconic image of Bolshevism, the president also said. Klaus Iohannis recalled
that hundreds of thousands of people stood up against the regime, risking their
lives and liberty so that democracy and the dignity of the Romanian people
should prevail.

On the other hand, the president condemned the recent
speculations of people questioning the sacrifice and tragedy of the victims of
communism:

The past must be a warning for today’s
younger generation, and the actions of the judiciary are legitimate in this
respect. I am worried by criminal investigations into communism-era crimes
being thwarted now, after only several years of progress. These investigations
must be a priority for the relevant institutions and I call on all
decision-makers to take steps in order to move things forward.

The president believes Romania needs a new law
that should forbid the denial of communist crimes, a law to punish tendencies
to uphold the cult of people found guilty of promoting political-based abuses
during the communist regime. 2016 saw the first sentences of two Romanian
torturers. Alexandru Visinescu, the former commander of the Ramnicu Sarat
penitentiary, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity.
Visinescu was found guilty for the death of 12 political prisoners. In another
ruling, Ion Ficior, the torturer and commander of Periprava detention center,
received a similar 20-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, after
over 100 political prisoners were killed on his orders.