The Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcan, announced on Saturday that he is going to sign an order regarding the classification of the former communist prison in Pitesti as a historical monument, write Agerpres.

„Regarding the Pitessti Memorial, there is already a request for registration in the UNESCO heritage list from the Institute for the Research of the Crimes of Communism. This request provides for the registration of this historical objective, along with four other prisons, Ramnic, Sighet, Jilava and Aiud, in the heritage list historical. Before starting this procedure, which is a long one, because it involves going through several stages, in the coming days I will sign the order for the classification of the Pitesti Memorial, which means ensuring protection from a patrimonial perspective on the part of the Ministry of Culture”, declared Raluca Turcan on Saturday, in Pitesti, during a press conference.

The Pitesti Prison Memorial and the Association of Former Political Prisoners from Romania (AFDPR) requested, on October 20, 2022, the urgent classification of the former communist penitentiary as a historical monument. The founder of the Pitesti Prison Memorial, Maria Axinte, drew attention to the risk of a building body being demolished to make way for a real estate project, recalling at the same time that the steps to classify it as a historical monument began several years ago, but the procedure it has been going on for a long time already.

The Pitesti Prison Memorial had previously launched a petition to save the former penitentiary, „so that future generations do not forget what communism meant”.

The Pitesti Prison Memorial is a private museum located inside the former penitentiary from Pitesti, where the so-called re-education through torture of the opponents of the communist regime was experienced.

The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, together with the Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcan, is visiting Arges county on Saturday.