Former PM Roman critcises AG Lazar for speaking for 1989 Revolition

Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar "had no business" speaking up in the December 1989 Revolution court case, former PM Petre Roman told AGERPRES on Monday, adding that this file is very important for all those who are victims or relatives of the victims of those days and who have the absolute right to "get this cause of theirs illuminated." He voiced "surprise, disappointment and even indignation" for the fact that this case was brought to trial through Augustin Lazar's mouth. "This means, in his own words, a total lack of sense of honour and moral duty. He had no business speaking up for this matter - and I say so thinking about my comrades at the barricade - on the night of December 21 when (...) 39 people were massacred. How is it possible for a prosecutor who would execute the darkest targets of the Ceausescu regime to come and tell the Romanian people about this case? Any of the military prosecutors who actually worked on this case would have been more welcome. And I say so because I've had many hours of talks with the military prosecutors who were investigating the case, many of my questions and theirs. I know they had a huge amount of data and information that they had to process with all their attention and the have advanced with the case. I think they did it in good faith, as I know them, although I keep my doubts about the need to bring Ion Iliescu to court, and even more so in the case of Gelu Voican Voiculescu," said Roman. He argued that the file shows that former President Ion Iliescu was allegedly seeking to secure his political power, "or, when the terrorist diversion was triggered, he had already been chairman of the of CFSN [National Salvation Front Council]." "It was the only political power in Romania at that time, because CFSN had actually met for the first time on December 27, when there was no more military action, and the terrorist diversion that caused so many hundreds of deaths and thousands of injured was undoubtedly linked to the initiative and orders of some military leaders. That is why I keep my doubts about this matter, all the more so as far as Gelu Voican Voiculescu is concerned, who was nobody then, whom would he order around? But I very much appreciate the importance of this case, because all those who are considered victims or relatives of the victims of those days have the absolute right under the rule of law, democracy, and freedom that we conquered at that time to get their cause illuminated. That is indeed a fundamental issue for the functioning of society in democracy," added Roman. Former President Ion Iliescu has been sent to court by military prosecutors over crimes against humanity in the December 1989 Revolution case. Gelu Voican Voiculescu, a former deputy prime minister, and retired Gen. Iosif Rus, former head of Military Aviation, have also been sent to court. The prosecutors ordered the December 1989 Revolution case closed in relation to late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, former Prime Minister Petre Roman, former Defence Minister Victor Atanasie Stanculescu as well as Silviu Brucan, Iulian Vlad, Tudor Postelnicu, Vasile Milea and Nicolae Militaru. According to a press statement from the Attorney General's Office, the closure was ordered for several reasons: the death of the defendants, no conclusive evidence or prior prosecution. Petre Roman, Teodor Brates - former editor-in-chief of the public television broadcaster TVR, and Ioan Toma - a former minister of youth, were acquitted for the lack of conclusive evidence of the commission of crimes against humanity, as provided for at Article 439 of the Criminal Code. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)