Romania opens way to prosecute communist-era crimes
18 Dec 2006 19:21:45 GMT Source: Reuters
By Radu Marinas BUCHAREST, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Romanian President Traian Basescu opened the way on Monday for the prosecution of crimes committed by the country's former communist dictatorship by issuing the first official condemnation of them. Presenting a state-sponsored report on the crimes of communism drafted by a 19-member commission, Basescu asked for forgiveness from those who saw their lives ruined by communism. "I categorically condemn the communist system in Romania, from its creation until its collapse in 1989," he said. "Dissidents were crushed ... The regime condemned the entire nation to misery, starvation and despair," he told parliament. Basescu said the commission, made up of historians, dissidents and analysts who prepared the report, found that up to 2 million Romanians were killed, deported, imprisoned or forced into labour camps during the five decades of communism. "I ask for forgiveness from all the people who saw their lives ruined by the communist dictatorship," he said. Analysts said the report could give legal arguments to victims seeking compensation and could speed up the process of restitution private property nationalised by the communists. "It's a step forward," said political analyst Adrian Moraru. Romanian communism crumbled in a violent revolt in December 1989, ending decades of bloodshed, deprivation and oppression that had left little room for resistance. But Romania's democratic governments have been slow to condemn the hardline rule of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and later Nicolae Ceausescu, who was shot on Christmas Day 1989, with many elected politicians having close ties to the former regimes. Analysts say this reluctance was an important reason behind Romania's slow transition from communism, which accelerated in the last few years and won the Black Sea state an invitation to join the European Union in January. Basescu said he would support the creation of a museum of dictatorship, a monument to the victims of communism and a school textbook. Opposition deputies from the far-right Greater Romania Party (PRM) booed and whistled as Basescu spoke to protest against the report labelling their party president Corneliu Vadim Tudor as Ceausescu's "court poet". They held banners with an image of Basescu behind bars. "It is a false, politically orchestrated report," Tudor said. "I agree we should unmask the crimes of the Stalinist era, but shouldn't it also condemn the Queen of England, who was in the same car with the dictator?" (Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia)
