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Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu

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Trial of the Ceaușescus
Part of the Romanian Revolution
Nicolae Ceaușescu (left), President of the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1974, also General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party since 1965, and his wife Elena Ceaușescu (right), were executed following trial on 25 December 1989.
Date25 December 1989
ConvictedNicolae Ceaușescu and Elena Ceaușescu
Charges
  • Genocide – over 60,000 victims
  • Subversion of state power by organising armed actions against the people and state power.
  • Destruction of public property by destroying and damaging buildings, explosions in cities, etc.
  • Undermining the national economy.
  • Attempting to flee the country using over $1 billion deposited in foreign banks.
SentenceDeath

The trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were held on 25 December 1989 in Târgoviște, Romania.[1] The trial was conducted by an Extraordinary Military Tribunal, a drumhead court-martial created at the request of a newly formed group called the National Salvation Front. Its outcome was predetermined, and it resulted in guilty verdicts and death sentences for former Romanian President and General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu.[2] The main charge was genocide. Romanian state television announced that Nicolae Ceaușescu had been responsible for the deaths of 60,000 people;[3] the announcement did not make clear whether this was the number killed during the Romanian Revolution in Timișoara[4][5][6] or throughout the 24 years of Ceaușescu's rule.

Nevertheless, the charges did not affect the trial. General Victor Stănculescu had brought with him a specially selected team of paratroopers from a crack regiment, handpicked earlier in the morning to act as a firing squad. Before the legal proceedings began, Stănculescu had already selected the spot where the execution would take place: along one side of the wall in the barracks' square.[7]

Nicolae Ceaușescu refused to recognize the tribunal, arguing its lack of constitutional basis and claiming that the revolutionary authorities were part of a Soviet plot.[7] His refusal to recognize the tribunal did not prevent the firing squad from carrying out the sentence immediately, on the same day as the trial.

Arrest

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On 22 December 1989, during the Romanian Revolution, Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu left the Central Committee building in Bucharest by helicopter towards Snagov, from where they left soon afterwards towards Pitești.[8] Vasile Maluțan, the helicopter pilot, claimed to be in danger from anti-aircraft fire, so he landed on the Bucharest–Târgoviște road, near Găești. They stopped a car driven by a Nicolae Decă, who took them to Văcărești, after which he informed the local authorities that the Ceaușescus were going toward Târgoviște. The Ceaușescus took another car and told its driver, Nicolae Petrișor, to drive them to Târgoviște. During the trip, the Ceaușescus heard news of the revolution on the car radio (by then the revolutionaries had taken control of the state media), causing Ceaușescu to angrily denounce the revolution as a coup d'état. Petrișor took the couple to an agricultural centre near Târgoviște, where they were locked in an office and later arrested by soldiers from a local army garrison.[7][9]

Creation of the tribunal

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As the new authorities heard the news of their arrest from General Andrei Kemenici, the commander of the army unit, they began to discuss what to do with the Ceaușescus.[7] Victor Stănculescu, who was Ceaușescu's last defence minister before going over to the revolution, wanted a quick execution, as did Gelu Voican Voiculescu. Ion Iliescu, Romania's provisional president, supported holding a trial first.[7][10]

During the evening of 24 December 1989, Stănculescu sent the secret code "recourse to the method" to Kemenici, referring to the execution of the Ceaușescus. A ten-member tribunal was formed to try the case.[11] The members of the panel were all military judges.[12]

The Independent characterized the trial as "what can best be described as an egregiously conducted summary trial, at worst a kangaroo court".[13]

Charges

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The charges were published in Monitorul Oficial the day after the execution:[14]

  • Genocide – over 60,000 victims
  • Subversion of state power by organising armed actions against the people and state power.
  • Offence of destruction of public property by destroying and damaging buildings, explosions in cities, etc.
  • Undermining the national economy.
  • Trying to flee the country using over $1 billion deposited in foreign banks.

Counsel for the defence

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The morning of the trial, prominent lawyer Nicu Teodorescu was having Christmas breakfast with his family when he was telephoned by an aide to Iliescu, and asked by the National Salvation Front to be the Ceaușescus' defence counsel. He replied that it would be "an interesting challenge".[15] Teodorescu met the couple for the first time in the Târgoviște "court room", when he was given ten minutes to confer with his clients. With so little time to prepare any defence, he tried to explain to them that their best hope of avoiding the death sentence was to plead insanity. The Ceaușescus brushed off the idea; according to Teodorescu, "When I suggested it, Elena in particular said it was an outrageous set-up. They felt deeply insulted...They rejected my help after that."[15]

Trial

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Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu
CourtExceptional Military Tribunal, a drumhead court-martial created at the request of a newly formed group called the National Salvation Front
Decided25 December 1989
VerdictNicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were convicted of all charges and condemned to death
ChargeThe main charge was genocide.
Court membership
Judge sittingVictor Stănculescu

At 5:30 a.m. on 25 December, the two were taken by an armoured personnel carrier to the garrison command office where the trial would take place. After the medical visits, they were brought into the improvised courtroom.[1] The trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu was very brief, lasting approximately one hour.[16][17][18] Ceaușescu defended himself by arguing that the tribunal was against the 1965 Constitution of Romania and that only the Great National Assembly had the power to remove him. He argued that it was a coup d'état organized by the Soviets.[7]

Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were convicted of all charges and condemned to death in what amounted to a show trial.[19] At one point, their forcibly-assigned lawyers abandoned their clients' defence and joined with the prosecutor, accusing them of capital crimes instead of defending them.[20][non-primary source needed] No offer of proof was made for the Ceaușescus' alleged crimes. They were tried based on references, solely by offence-name or hearsay, to criminal acts they had committed in the opinion of prosecutors, or as alleged in press reports.[clarification needed] Various irregularities presented themselves, or became apparent after the trial:[19][20]

  • The trial was held immediately, without a prior criminal investigation.[21]
  • The suspects could not choose their own lawyers.[21]
  • The court did not attempt to find and prove the truth.[21] There was no file of evidence presented to the court.[22]
  • An accusation of genocide was never proven. Four top Ceaușescu aides later admitted complicity in genocide in 1990.[4] Pro TV stated that there were 860 people killed after 22 December 1989 (i.e. when the dictatorial couple was no longer in charge).[23][24] Another source gives the figure of 306 people killed 17–22 December 1989.[25]
  • The Ceaușescus were accused of having $1 billion in foreign bank accounts. No such accounts have ever been found.[19][20]
  • The judges' verdict allowed for appealing to a higher court. The Ceaușescus were executed a few minutes after the verdict, rendering that provision moot.[19][20][21]
  • The new authorities argued the execution of the Ceaușescus was necessary to stop terrorists from attacking the new political order. No terrorists or terrorist cells were found to have been active in Romania.[26] A newer insight of prosecution of "crimes against humanity" claims that the new regime orchestrated "a psychosis of terrorism" through diversionary actions.[27]

Execution

[edit]

The Ceaușescus were executed at 2:50 p.m. local time at Military Unit UM 01417 from Târgoviște on 25 December 1989.[1] The execution was carried out by a firing squad consisting of eight paratroop regiment soldiers brought in by two helicopters from the Boteni base: Captain Ionel Boeru, Sergeant-Major Georghin Octavian and Dorin-Marian Cîrlan, and five other non-commissioned officers who were selected from 20 volunteers.[1][28] Before the execution, Nicolae Ceaușescu declared, "We could have been shot without having this masquerade!"[19] The Ceaușescus' hands were tied by four soldiers before the execution.[29] Simon Sebag Montefiore wrote that Elena Ceaușescu screamed, "You sons of bitches!" as she was led outside and lined up against the wall, while Nicolae Ceaușescu began singing a fragment of "The Internationale" before the soldiers opened fire.[30][1]

The firing squad began shooting as soon as the two were positioned against a wall. The execution happened too quickly for the television crew assigned to the trial and death sentence to videotape it in full; only the last round of shots was filmed. In 2014, retired Captain Boeru told a reporter for The Guardian newspaper that he believes that the shots he fired from his rifle were solely responsible for the deaths of both of the Ceaușescus, because, of the three soldiers in the firing squad, he was the only one who remembered to switch his assault rifle to fire fully automatic, and at least one member of the group hesitated to shoot for several seconds.[31] In 1990, a member of the National Salvation Front reported that 120 bullets were found in the couple's bodies.[28]

In 1989, Prime Minister Petre Roman told French television that the execution was carried out quickly due to rumours that loyalists would attempt to rescue the couple.[32]

Burial

[edit]

After the execution, the bodies were covered with canvas.[33] The Ceaușescus' corpses were taken to Bucharest and buried in Ghencea Cemetery on 30 December 1989.[34]

The bodies were exhumed for identification and reburied in 2010.[35] Groups of Ceaușescu supporters visit to place flowers on the grave, with large numbers of pensioners gathering on 26 January, Nicolae's birthday.[36]

Release of the images

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The hasty trial and the images of the dead Ceaușescus were videotaped and the footage promptly released in numerous Western countries two days after the execution.[37] Later that day, it was also shown on Romanian television.[37]

Reactions

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In 2009 Valentin Ceaușescu, elder son of the Ceaușescus, argued that the revolutionary forces should have killed his parents when they had arrested them on 22 December since they did not need any trial.[38] After making vague comments about the incident, Ion Iliescu stated that it was "quite shameful, but necessary".[9] In a similar vein, Stănculescu told the BBC in 2009 that the trial was "not just, but it was necessary" because the alternative would have been seeing Nicolae lynched on the streets of Bucharest.[10]

Several countries criticized the new rulers of Romania after the execution due to lack of public trial. The United States government was the most prominent critic of the trial, stating: "We regret the trial did not take place in an open and public fashion."[32]

Aftermath

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On 1 March 1990, Colonel Gică Popa, who had presided over the trial and been promoted to general, was found dead in his office. His death was ruled a suicide.[39] The Ceaușescus were the last people to be executed in Romania before the abolition of capital punishment on 7 January 1990.[40]

In December 2018, Iliescu, former Deputy Prime Minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu, former Romanian Air Force chief Iosif Rus, and former National Salvation Front council member Emil Dumitrescu were indicted by Romanian military prosecutors for crimes against humanity for the deaths that occurred during the Romanian Revolution, most of which took place after Ceaușescu was overthrown. The indictment also made reference to the conviction and execution of the Ceaușescus "after a mockery of a trial".[41] The investigation that led to the indictments had previously been closed in 2009, but was re-opened in 2016 as the result of a trial at the European Court of Human Rights.[42]

In the arts

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Swiss theatre director Milo Rau and his International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) wrote and produced the stage production The Last Days of the Ceausescus in 2009. The production was a re-enactment of the trial, and IIPM was able to obtain testimonies from people directly involved in the Romanian revolution (including dissidents, politicians, revolutionaries and ordinary Romanians) and the trial of the Ceaușescus (including the general who betrayed them, the officer who captured them, and the soldier who shot them).[43]

A few days before the premiere at the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest[43] in 2010, Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu's son-in-law Mircea Oprean (the widower of Zoia, who died in 2006), forced his way into rehearsals, saying that he and his brother-in-law Valentin Ceaușescu had registered the name "Ceaușescu" as a trademark in 2008, and it could not be used in the title. A lawsuit followed, and the director was forced to cancel the show after two performances.[44]

The show then premiered at Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) in Berlin, before touring Switzerland at the Schlachthaus Theater in Bern, Theaterhaus Gessnerallee in Zurich, and Südpol in Lucerne.[43] It was also later produced at the Festival d'Avignon in France,[45] and a documentary film (Die letzten Tage der Ceausescus) was made about it.[46][47][48]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e TVR. "Trial and Execution". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  2. ^ "The Road To Revolution: The Execution of Ceaușescu/The Iranian Revolution". Days That Shook the World. Season 3, Episode 8. 8 December 2005. BBC Two.
  3. ^ Harden, Blaine (26 December 1989). "Ceausescu, Wife Reported Executed After Trial". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b "4 Top Ceausescu Aides Admit Complicity in Genocide: Romania: They are the first senior officials of regime to go on trial before a military court. The four are said to have confessed to all charges". Los Angeles Times. Bucharest, Romania. Reuters. 28 January 1990. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  5. ^ Quigley, John B. (2006). The Genocide Convention: An International Law Analysis. Ashgate Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7546-8029-1.
  6. ^ Schabas, William (2000). Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes. Cambridge University Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-521-78790-1.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Burakovski, p. 273
  8. ^ Burakovski, p. 272
  9. ^ a b Demian, Sinziana (25 December 2009). "In Romania, Ceaușescu's death haunts Christmas". GlobalPost. Cluj Napoca. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Ceausescu execution 'avoided mob lynching'". BBC News. 25 December 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Ceausescu Wept as He Faced Firing Squad, Footage Shows". The New York Times. Associated Press. 23 April 1990. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  12. ^ Kideckel, David A. (2004). "The Undead:Nicolae Ceaușescu and paternalist politics in Romanian society and culture". In Borneman, John (ed.). Death of The Father: An Anthropology of The End in Political Authority. Berghahn Books. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-85745-715-8. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  13. ^ O'Hare, Mick (25 December 2019). "'Shameful but necessary': How the Romanian rulers who starved their people met their end". The Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  14. ^ Monitorul Oficial, Anul I, Nr. 3, 26 December 1989
  15. ^ a b "Ceausescus Expected to Be Rescued, Lawyer Says". Los Angeles Times. United Press International. 24 January 1990. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Nicolae Ceausescu". Biography. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  17. ^ Elsner, Alan (22 July 2010). "Trial and Execution: The Dramatic Deaths of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu". HuffPost.
  18. ^ Sarhaddi Nelson, Soraya (24 December 2014). "25 Years After Death, A Dictator Still Casts A Shadow in Romania". NPR. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  19. ^ a b c d e Cartianu, Grigore (19 December 2009). "Nicolae si Elena Ceausescu: 'Impreuna am luptat, sa murim impreuna!'" [Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu: 'Together we fought, let us die together!']. adevarul.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  20. ^ a b c d s:ro:Stenograma procesului Ceaușescu, translated at s:Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.
  21. ^ a b c d "Procese, cazuri celebre- Procesul sotilor Ceausescu. Aspecte de teorie si practica judiciara. Cel mai controversat proces romanesc" [Trials, famous cases- The Ceausescu trial. Aspects of judicial theory and practice. The most controversial Romanian trial]. Avocat Marian Roșca (in Romanian). 20 October 2012. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  22. ^ Antoniu, Gabriela (27 November 2019). "Interviu integral – "Marius Tucă Show". Gen. C-tin Lucescu, despre procesul Ceauşeştilor: Nu a existat niciun fel de dosar. Nu am ştiut nici eu, nici procurorul" [Full interview – "Marius Tucă Show". Gen. C-tin Lucescu, about the Ceaucescu trial: There was no file. Neither I nor the prosecutor knew]. Mediafax.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  23. ^ Știrile PRO TV - 21 februarie 2020 on YouTube 0:32:39
  24. ^ "Schimbare în Dosarul Revoluției. Două ministere ar putea fi obligate să acorde despăgubiri" [Change in the Revolution File. Two ministries could be forced to pay compensation]. Stirileprotv.ro (in Romanian). 12 June 2020.
  25. ^ Valentin Marin. Martirii Revoluției în date statistice Editura Institului Revoluției Române, Bucharest, 2010, p. 22
  26. ^ R.M. (21 December 2010). "Dan Voinea: Nu au existat teroristi in decembrie '89. Sotii Ceausescu au fost ucisi pentru a salva administratia comunista, care dureaza si azi" [Dan Voinea: There were no terrorists in December '89. The Ceausescu's were killed to save the communist administration, which continues today]. Hotnews.ro (in Romanian).
  27. ^ Vioreanu, Valentin (9 October 2019). "Lovitură cumplită pentru Ion Iliescu! Ce au decis judecătorii" [A terrible blow for Ion Iliescu! What the judges decided]. Capital (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  28. ^ a b "120 bullets found in Ceausescus". The Day. 23 January 1990. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  29. ^ Elsner, Alan (23 December 2009). "Trial and Execution: The Dramatic Deaths of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu". Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  30. ^ Sebag Montefiore, Simon (2008). 101 Villains from Vlad the Impaler to Adolf Hitler: History's Monsters. Metro Books. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-4351-0937-7.
  31. ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma (6 December 2014). "'I'm still nervous,' says soldier who shot Nicolae Ceausescu". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  32. ^ a b "Television shows last hours of the 'anti-Christ'". The Guardian. 27 December 1989. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  33. ^ Matus, Victor (1 December 2005). "On the Disposal of Dictators". Hoover Institution. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  34. ^ Stan, Lavinia (2013). Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Romania: The Politics of Memory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-107-42925-3. OCLC 872522689.
  35. ^ "Ex-dictator Ceausescu is reburied". BBC News. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  36. ^ "Nicolae Ceausescu's Grave – Sightseeing". Bucharest. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  37. ^ a b "On this day". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  38. ^ "Ceausescu fooled by aides, son says". Kyiv Post. Associated Press. 24 December 2009. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  39. ^ "Morți NEELUCIDATE care pătează imaginea justiției din România" [Unresolved deaths tarnishing the image of justice in Romania]. romaniatv.net (in Romanian). 25 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  40. ^ "How many countries still have the death penalty?". BBC News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  41. ^ "Romanian Ex-President Iliescu Indicted For 'Crimes Against Humanity'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  42. ^ Luca, Ana Maria (8 April 2019). "Romania Indicts Former Officials for Usurping 1989 Revolution". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  43. ^ a b c "The Last Days of the Ceausescus". International Institute of Political Murder. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  44. ^ Schmidt-Häuer, Christian (13 July 2010), "Rumänien: Kafka grüßt die Karpaten", Die Zeit (in German), no. 28, archived from the original on 15 July 2010
  45. ^ "The Last Days of the Ceaușescus by Milo Rau". Ashkal Alwan (in Latin). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  46. ^ Die letzten Tage der Ceausescus at IMDb
  47. ^ "The Last Days Of The Ceausescus". dafilms.com. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  48. ^ Rau, Milo (30 June 2023). "Milo Rau: "Let's continue, but in another way"". Capital Cultural. Interviewed by Brînză, Teia. Retrieved 19 March 2024.

Further reading

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  • Burakovski, Adam (2011). Dictatura lui Nicolae Ceaușescu, 1965–1989 – Geniul Carpaților [Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship, 1965–1989 – Genius of the Carpathians] (in Romanian). Polirom. ISBN 978-973-46-1963-4.
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