Among the victims of communist security and the communist regime that protected Nicolae Ceausescu, the case of engineer Gheorghe Ursu is probably the most famous. Although the actions of those involved in his arrest, interrogation and subsequent murder have been thoroughly documented, they, security officers Marin Pirvulescu and Vasile Hodis, appear to have no chance of facing criminal charges for their actions. Acquitted by the appellate court, their appeal was heard in the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The announcement of the sentence is scheduled for July 4, 2023.

But Gheorghe Ursu is only one of thousands of Romanian citizens who were killed in the last years of the communist regime. Disappearances and murders of opponents and dissidents of the communist regime were also known outside Romania. Radio Free Europe periodically reported on such cases in the 1980s. Here are some of them:

Ferenc Balint, a specialist in management positions at the Regin Brewery, a party member. In 1987, he refused to sign a declaration of protest against the publication in Budapest of works on the history of Transylvania. After being criticized at a party meeting, apparently at the behest of Nicolae Ceausescu, he was found dead outside the hotel where he was staying the day after that meeting. The case was quickly “solved”, giving credit to the fact that he accidentally fell from the 8th floor.

Maria Mircescu, the wife of the dissident Dumitru Mircescu, fell from the eighth floor of the building where she lived, also accidentally, as it was later reported, after “exchanging violent remarks with security personnel.” Defenestration is one tactic used even today by some dictatorial regimes.

Ferenc Chucky53 years old, was killed in action by the commander of the Tirgu-Secuiesk security service in the year of the Brasov uprising, 1987.

Erno Ujvarosi, a relative of pastor László Tekes, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances on September 14, 1989, was found dead in a forest near Timisoara.

actor Arpad Visky he was found dead on January 5, 1987. Earlier he asked to emigrate from the country.

Another case reported in several documents, including the famous Voyame Report^[1], belongs to Ani Tsiheran. At the age of 27, she was found dead in a park in Timisoara on October 2, 1989. This is just a day after she was detained by the Securitate for visiting her Italian friend who was staying at the Continental Hotel in Timisoara. Her case is described in the Voyame report as follows: “According to the information received, Anna Tsiheran was raped, her arms and legs were broken. He expressed his desire to leave the country several times. Many of his family members live abroad. She herself was imprisoned twice, in 1987 and 1988, for attempting to leave the country without authorization.”

What do they all have in common?

At a certain stage of the biography, all of the above became undesirable for the communist regime for various reasons. They all ended up dead, having been killed. Their deaths were presented as accidental or under unexplained circumstances.

What’s the differencewhat about the Gheorghe Ursu case?

In this case, the perpetrators will probably never be identified, and the documentary evidence of their murder will gradually disappear, if not destroyed, over the past thirty years. The punishment of the guards responsible for the murder of Gheorghe Ursa would be an act of justice – which was documented at the level of first name/surname, powers and duties – symbolic of all those dissidents, protesters and opponents who were killed in the past years of the communist regime and the number of whom still unknown.

It would also be an example that no matter how hard they tried to escape, eventually justice would bring the culprits and their accomplices to justice. Otherwise, all communist security and police officers would breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they will never pay for crimes committed before 1989, even when their actions are documented. – Read the whole article and comment on Contribuotrs.ro