Romanian Ex-President Accused of Working for Securitate

The body in charge in investigating the fearsome secret service of the former communist regime in Romania on Thursday launched court procedures to ascertain whether former president Traian Basescu ever collaborated with the so-called Securitate.

The National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives, CNSAS, based its request to the Appeal Court on documents it has obtained from the Romanian Intelligence Service SRI and the Ministry of Defence.

The research institution works closely with historians and other experts to reveal both those who worked for the former political police, or who it placed under surveillance.

According to the SRI documents, as a young navy student, Basescu was recruited and used as a source by the Securitate from 1972 onwards.

In 1976, when he graduated, they suggest he was taken over by the Securitate office in Constanta, the main Black Sea port.

His file was destroyed in 1979, without being put on micro-film, after Basescu joined the ruling Communist Party, PCR.

According to the CNSAS, his Securitate code name was Petrov. The institution says it found handwritten notes by Basescu, detailing information about his university colleagues and other foreigners he encountered during his naval activities.

The CNSAS says the name of his liaison officer during his time when he collaborated with the Securitate is recorded.

Basescu served two presidential mandates between 2004 and 2014, during which time Romania joined NATO and the EU.

He has dismissed having any connections with the secret police during the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, claiming the allegations had a political purpose, and were designed to damage his chances in the recent European Parliament elections.

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