29 years since Romania’s Anti-Communist Revolution

Romania commemorates, each year on 21 December, the victims of the Anti-Communist Revolution in 1989, when massive crowds of people went out on the streets to protest against dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and its regime. Romanian Revolution started in Timișoara and then spread across the country, culminating with a brief trial followed by execution of Communist Party General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and with the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania.

More than 1,100 people were killed and over 3,300 were injured during the December 1989 events in Bucharest, Timisoara, and other Romanian cities. Most people lost their lives or were injured in the armed confrontations that followed after dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu fled Bucharest. Some still recollect those events with grief and sorrow, although 29 years have passed.

In memory of those days and of all who lost their lives, there are solemn ceremonies that Romanians are organizing each year.

Initially classified, the Revolution file was reopened in 2017 after judges decided that the previous investigations had been very superficial. Military prosecutors announced the extension of criminal procedures, in rem, in relation to crimes against humanity. Judges have shown that in order to keep the power, the new political and military power instated after 1989 caused the killing and arrest of a great number of people. President of the Association 'December 21, 1989' Doru Maries says that the only thing that can be done for the revolution heroes is JUSTICE.

Source:RRA,RRI