Romanian Revolution

Romania's High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled on Thursday in favour of reopening the criminal investigation into former president Ion Iliescu over the so-called "Mineriada" events of June 13-15, 1990.

Iliescu summoned miners from the biggest mining basins in Romania, in Valea Jiului, to Bucharest to "restore order" against pro-Western parties who were demanding new elections.

Prime Minister Florin Citu states that justice still owes Romanians with finding the truth about the Mineriad [the miners' riot] of June 13-15, 1990. "It has been 31 years since one of the darkest periods of our post-December history, when the then halls of power pitted Romanians against Romanians.

During the remainder of the Games, where she won three gold medals, she would receive the highest possible score six more times, becoming one of the most iconic sporting legends of all time - as well as a silver bullet for the Romanian regime in terms of international propaganda.

On 5 November 2020, an amended version of the law from 1990, granting financial compensation to both victims of the communist regime and their descendants, came into force after being published in Romania's official gazette. 

Even the premise that the revolution was contemporary Romania's proudest hour, once an article of faith, is now fiercely disputed. Trials against the perpetrators of the violence that followed Ceauşescu's fall on 22 December - which accounted for the lion's share of victims - have been shut down again and again, despite tireless efforts by victims' associations to bring them to justice.

The municipality and the revolutionary associations in Timisoara will mark, between December 16 and 22, the event of December 1989 through a series of manifestations gathered in the program "Timisoara - 31 years since the Revolution of December 1989" , under the motto "Dignity, Democracy, Determination", in a format with restricted public participation.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB) registered the file sent by the National Council for the Study of Securitate [the communist-era political police] Archives (CNSAS) requesting the establishment of the "quality of Securitate collaborator" of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Governor, Mugur Isarescu.

The violent events of 13-15 June 1990 remained known in post-communist memory as "Mineriad of 13-15 June 1990" and refer to the repression, by law enforcement forces, with the help of miners, of protest rallies in the University Square of that period.

According to a disputed official toll, deemed overly conservative by many, six people died and over 500 were injured between June 13 and 15, 1990 in what became known as the "mineriad", as the security forces and mineworkers embarked on a joint repressive spree, with the workers acting as paramilitaries to strike fear into government critics and dissidents.

President Klaus Iohannis stated on Thursday that "University Square" represents a "testament that we must cherish and respect." "Today, 30 years since those bloody events, Romania is a rule of law, with a consolidated democracy, profoundly attached to the European and democratic values, and the civil society is categorically stronger and more consolidated.