Romanian prosecutors have asked a court to re-open a case against the country’s first post-Communist prime minister Petre Roman so they can investigate him for charges of crimes against humanity connected to the bloody anti-Communist revolution of 1989.
The development on Monday came as Romania prepares to mark 30 years since the overthrow and execution of former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu where more than 1,100 people died.
The General Prosecutor’s office said that military prosecutors had not properly investigated the case or followed procedures and said that the case against Roman should not have been dropped.
It said Roman and an editor at the national television station should both be investigated for the charges.
In April, former President Ion Iliescu, 88, was officially charged with crimes against humanity by the country’s top prosecutor along with the former deputy prime minister and the former aviation chief.
But the criminal investigation into Roman was dropped as military prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence.
After delaying the investigation for many years, military prosecutors who last reopened the file in 2016 said that the „new political and military leadership” which took control after Ceausescu’s ouster caused the deaths of many people in their bid to maintain power.
The vast majority of the deaths in December 1989 occurred after Ceausescu’s ouster.
Prosecutors say that the state induced a general state of panic by broadcasting fake news.
Prosecutors said that Iliescu and his associates, who gained control of the military and the media during the uprising, had failed to prevent „numerous situations” in which people were needlessly killed.
Iliescu, was educated in Moscow in the 1950s, is also on trial with Roman on charges of crimes against humanity over the crushing of peaceful anti-government protests in Bucharest in June 1990 in which four people were killed.
