14 prosecuted over June 1990 miners’ raids
The 14 people indicted in the case will be tried by the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
România Internațional, 16.06.2017, 13:27
After 27 years of accusations, controversies, and speculations, Romanias first post-communist president Ion Iliescu and prime minister Petre Roman, the former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu, the former leader of the Jiu Valley coal workers and 10 other individuals have been charged with crimes against humanity over their involvement in the miners raids of June 13-15, 1990.
The raids ended a large-scale protest against the leftist power installed after the fall of the communist dictatorship in December 1989. The initial court case took nearly 20 years to complete, without any indictments whatsoever. Investigations were resumed in 2015, after the European Court of Human Rights forced the Romanian authorities to identify the culprits for the death of 4 people, physical and emotional harm inflicted on nearly 1,400 others and the illegal arrest and detention of over 1,000, during violent clashes that severely affected Romanias foreign image.
During those tense days, the then president Ion Iliescu spoke about an attempted coup and called on civilians to protect the countrys democratic institutions. According to prosecutors, this led to a violent attack against the people who were peacefully protesting in Bucharests University Square. Military prosecutors say that illegally involved in this attack were forces of the Interior Ministry and the Defence Ministry, Intelligence Service units as well as over 10,000 coal miners and workers from several parts of the country. The thousands of miners who raided the capital city in June 1990 stormed the University building, the offices of opposition parties and the headquarters of independent publications.
According to the indictment, ex-president Ion Iliescu is accused of having ordered the forcible evacuation of the protesters in University Square. The intervention of security forces in the morning of June 13 was not aimed to disperse the protesters, but rather to capture them, reads the indictment. According to the document, those who entered the headquarters of the Romanian Intelligence Service during those events were familiar with the plans of the building, which proves that they were not protesters, as the authorities claimed at that time.
Prosecutors also say that 2 of the people who died during the clashes had been shot in the back of their heads, but the perpetrators could not be identified. Also, the protesters who were illegally arrested and incarcerated were detained in conditions comparable to those in which WW2 prisoners were kept.
The 14 individuals indicted in this case will be tried by the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
(translated by: Ana Maria Popescu)
