Romanian court denies request to exhume former dictator
A Romanian court today denied a request by late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s daughter to have her parents’ remains exhumed to ensure that authorities were telling the truth about the burial site.
Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed after a popular revolt toppled his administration in 1989. The government said they were buried in the Ghencea Cemetery in western Bucharest, the capital.
Zoe Ceausescu, 52, sued the Defence Ministry and the Cemetery Administration to exhume the bodies, saying she harboured doubts her parents were buried there.
She asked to have her parents’ remains exhumed for a forensic investigation to determine the remains were those of her parents. She also noted that there are no official documents showing they were buried at the cemetery.
Today, the court ordered the Cemetery Administration to prove that the Ceausescus are buried there, the daughter’s lawyer, Haralambie Voicilas, was quoted as saying by state news agency Rompres.
Zoe Ceausescu and her brother Valentin Ceausescu spent eight months in jail in 1990 while under investigation for “undermining the national economy.” They later were cleared.
Their other brother, Nicu, died in Vienna in 1996 from cirrhosis after having spent three years in prison for involvement in repressing the revolt.
After 25 years of harsh rule, the Ceausescus were accused in a summary trial of genocide and undermining the national economy. Some 1,000 people died during the uprising when forces loyal to Ceausescu battled street protesters.
