The Prosecutor General’s Office officially announced on Friday the indictment of former President Ion Iliescu for crimes against humanity in the miner’s rampage case of June 1990, Agerpres reports.
„In the case known generically as the ‘Mineriada of 13-15 June 1990’, the military prosecutors of the Military Prosecution Section ordered, on 19.04.2024, the continuation of the criminal proceedings against Ion Iliescu, at the time of the facts president of the Provisional Council of National Union and elected president of Romania, on the charge of committing crimes against humanity, in the normative variants provided for by art. 439 para. 1 lit. a) (4 secondary passive subjects), lit. f) (at least 2 secondary passive subjects), lit. g) (at least 1315 secondary passive subjects), lit. j) (at least 1214 secondary passive subjects) Criminal Code, with application of Art. 5 Criminal Code”, reads a press release issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
A team of investigators from the General Prosecutor’s Office went to Ion Iliescu’s home on Friday morning to inform the former president that he has been indicted again in the June 1990 miner’s rampage case.
Prosecutors stayed only ten minutes in the villa where Iliescu lives, entering through a back gate to avoid journalists present at the scene.
On Thursday, former prime minister Petre Roman, former deputy prime minister Gelu-Voican Voiculescu, former SRI director Virgil Măgureanu, Adrian Sârbu, Miron Cozma, former generals Vasile Dobrinoiu and Peter Petre were summoned in turn to the General Prosecutor’s Office to be informed of the charges.
A special indictment procedure was applied to Ion Iliescu because he is 94 years old and cannot go to the prosecutor’s office.
Prosecutors have to reopen the investigation into the case after evidence gathered by investigators was quashed in court.
Initially, in June 2017, former President Ion Iliescu was indicted for crimes against humanity, along with former Prime Minister Petre Roman and former SRI director Virgil Măgureanu, but in December 2020, the High Court of Cassation and Justice decided to return the case to the Military Prosecutor’s Office to start the investigation from scratch.
The judges then decided to annul all the evidence gathered by the prosecutors, finding that the indictment against Ion Iliescu was unlawful, along with Petre Roman, Gelu Voican Voiculescu, Virgil Măgureanu, General (res.) Mugurel Cristian Florescu, Admiral (res.) Emil „Cico” Dumitrescu (since deceased), Cazimir Ionescu, Adrian Sârbu and Miron Cozma.
The military prosecutors alleged that on 11 and 12 June 1990, the state authorities decided to launch a violent attack against demonstrators in Bucharest’s University Square, who were mainly campaigning for the adoption of point 8 of the Timisoara Proclamation and peacefully expressing their political views in contradiction to those of the majority in political power at the time.
Forces from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of National Defence, the SRI and more than 10,000 miners and other workers from several parts of the country were allegedly involved in the attack.
According to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, the attack was carried out on the morning of 13 June 1990, with the following consequences: four people shot dead, two people raped, 1,388 people physically or mentally injured, 1,250 people deprived of their fundamental right to freedom for political reasons.
As part of this action, more than 200 people were picked up and transported to a military unit of the Ministry of the Interior in Măgurele, where they were detained until the afternoon of the same day, when they were let go after a summary search.
Ion Iliescu was accused by military prosecutors of having given the order for the forceful evacuation of the demonstrators from University Square, including the use of workers from large enterprises in Bucharest.
