- Title: Romanians remember Revolution victims 30 years on
- Date: 25th December 2019
- Summary: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (DECEMBER 21, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RELATIVES OF PEOPLE KILLED IN 1989 REVOLUTION AT HEROES CEMETERY IN BUCHAREST SISTER OF MAN KILLED IN ROMANIAN REVOLUTION, STELUTA VINTILA, ADORNING GRAVE OF HER BROTHER WHO WAS KILLED IN REVOLUTION (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) SISTER OF MAN KILLED IN ROMANIAN REVOLUTION, STELUTA VINTILA, SAYING: "He died very young, he was full of life, full of hope for a better life. He died for us to have better lives. But, today, after 30 years of sufferings and bitterness, I ask myself: what did he die for?" MAN LIGHTING CANDLE AT RELATIVE'S GRAVE TOMBSTONE SCULPTURE OF WOMAN PRIEST PERFORMING RITES WITH TEARY-EYED WOMAN HOLDING CANDLE, WOMAN AND MAN HUGGING TOMBSTONE PHOTO OF STAN BANCILA, KILLED ON DECEMBER 21, 1989 (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) MOTHER OF STAN BANCILA, ELENA BANCILA, SAYING: "They took from him the right to live, the right to enjoy freedom. Who? Those who put their hands on this country. You can imagine how revolted I was and I still am, even after 30 years. My revolt grows each year, as nobody is punished (for killings during the revolution)." VARIOUS OF ELDERLY WOMAN CRYING BY GRAVE MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS OF REVOLUTION, PEOPLE WITH ROMANIAN FLAGS PASSING BEHIND
- Embargoed: 8th January 2020 13:01
- Keywords: Nicolae Ceausescu Romanian Revolution anniversary of fall of Communism fall of Communism in Romania victims of Revolution
- Location: BUCHAREST, TIMISOARA AND NEAR TARGOVISTE, ROMANIA
- City: BUCHAREST, TIMISOARA AND NEAR TARGOVISTE, ROMANIA
- Country: Romania
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001BBH4MKN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
Romanians have been commemorating the people who died in the country's bloody uprising against communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 30 years ago in ceremonies around the country over the past week.
Wednesday (December 25) is the 30th anniversary of the execution by firing squad of Ceausescu and his wife Elena at an army base close to the town of Targoviste.
Ceausescu governed Romania with a heavy hand for 24 years, but when protests against the regime broke out in the western city of Timisoara in mid-December 1989, they spread across the country.
After a week of demonstrations, riots and an armed crackdown, the Ceausescus fled Bucharest on December 22.
At a Bucharest cemetery on Saturday (December 21) relatives of those killed in the violence spoke about the people they had lost and expressed anger that other members of the regime had never been punished.
Romania is the only former Communist country from the now defunct Warsaw Pact where the regime was toppled in violence.
The country joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007, but remains one of Europe's poorest and most corrupt countries.
(Production: Sinisa Dragin, Fedja Grulovic, Lewis Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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