Solemn session/Iohannis: Justice must establish truth about Revolution; hold guilty accountable

President Klaus Iohannis stated on Monday that the state has "delayed for far too long" the discovery of the truth about the Revolution in 1989 and emphasized that justice must hold those guilty accountable. "After 1990, there were different initiatives through which the memory of those who gave their lives in December 1989 was honored. Streets were named, public forum monuments were built, events for commemoration were organized. With one thing have we remained in debt - we have not found out the truth about what happened during the anticommunist revolt of 1989. The sacrifice of those Romanians who stood, with their chests bare, in front of the bullets, the tanks and the most atrocious forms of torture, cannot remain without the answers to the fundamental questions that regard the Revolution. The Romanian state has delayed for far too long the discovery of the truth and this is a cornerstone challenge for the Romanian Justice. Finding out the truth is a necessity for the victims and their descendants, for Romanians, for our common future. A true democracy is built on truth and justice and this major debt of the Romanian justice represents a ghost that will haunt us all for a long time to come. Thus, Justice must establish the truth and hold those guilty accountable!" said the head of state at the solemn session of Parliament dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Revolution of December 1989. He emphasized that Romania, " a country built on the sacrifice of Romanian heroes and martyrs, which has embraced the values of rule of law, a member-state of the European Union and NATO, who chose the path of liberal democracy, cannot be indifferent to the crimes and abuses committed by the communist regime in December 1989." "Today marks 30 years since the start of the Revolution of December 1989, 30 years since the moment much blood was shed in the name of liberty and democracy. In those days, Romanians roared with all their might 'Down with communism.' The sacrifice of the Romanians in those moments, defining for the later progress of Romania, brought us freedom and made possible today's existence as citizens of a democratic state in which the dignity of the person, the human rights and freedoms, justice and pluralism are supreme values. It's appropriate to mark with piety and gratitude the founding moment of Romanian democracy. We have the duty, above all else, to honor the supreme sacrifice of the heroes and martyrs who gave their lives in December 1989," Iohannis stated. According to the head of state, the 45 years of communist dictatorship "broke abruptly the natural ties with the European family" and pushed Romania away from European values and principles. "This age in our history was marked by a profound despise for the law, restrained human rights and freedoms, by fear and terror, by shortcomings and many humiliations. The communist regime installed itself through force against the free will of Romanians, and its collapse followed the same pattern, through crimes, abuses and the trampling of law," said the head of state. Iohannis showed that, on the basis of uncontestable evidence, historians and specialists in recent history concluded that the communist regime was "illegitimate and criminal," and Romanians suffered the consequences of a Stalinist dictatorship which annihilated political pluralism, destroyed the traditional constitutional order, repressed elites, persecuted and threw into dungeons and camps its opposition, regardless of political color, gender, race, ethnic background or religious conviction. "In the years of the dictatorship, the repression of the regime against its own people reached paroxysm, and the phenomenon of social extermination reached all social categories. Communism destroyed the historical and cultural patrimony, introduced censorship and informative control and generalized police terror," Iohannis added. He mentioned that the Revolution put an end to the long line of "monstrosities", but at an "immense cost", given that 1,100 people were killed, and over 3,000 persons were "maimed forever." "In the bloody days of December 1989, the state authorities, which should have protected Romanians, turned into executioners, flagrantly violating human rights. The repressive institutions of the regime, headed by the Securitate [communist-era secret police - e.n.] of Ceausescu, repressed peaceful protesters, denied them their liberty illegally, tortured them and desecrated corpses," Iohannis concluded. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Mihai Simionescu, Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Simona Iacob)