Trial and Execution

"Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu fled the capital on December 22, on board a helicopter.
They arrived at their Snagov residence at around 12 pm, and then took off for
Târgoviște.

Close to Boteni (near the Bucharest-Târgoviște road),
they abandoned the helicopter (1:30 pm) which the army had instructed to land.
The Ceaușescus arrived close to Târgoviște in cars belonging to people pulled over on
the road by officers of the Securitate [Secret Police].

They hid in a forest until nightfall, and then went to the headquarters of the County Militia,
which had been taken over by revolutionaries.
Here the Ceaușescus were arrested and searched by the revolutionaries.

At around 6 pm, they were transported to the Târgoviște Garrison
(Military Unit UM 01378 and Military Unit UM 0147) with army and militia escorts.

"

"The announcement of the arrest of the Ceaușescus was received with cheers from the
revolutionaries in the Romanian national television studios.

"

"The meeting of the Superior Military Council took place on the evening of December 24, and Ion Iliescu,
Petre Roman, Silviu Brucan and eight generals participated in it. At 8 pm, Ion Iliescu noted down the
decision of the Council of the National Salvation Front, creating an Exceptional Military Tribunal
for the emergency trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.

"

"On December 25, at 5:30 am, the Ceauşescus were brought by armored personnel carrier to the garrison's
command office, where their trial would take place. Sergeant Constantin Stoican revved up
the engine to create a smokescreen and mask their disembarking.

After their medical visits, defendants Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu
were brought into the improvised courtroom in the military unit. "

"
The panel of judges was led by military judges Gică Popa and Ioan Nistor,
and by justice major Dan Voinea, who received the order to draft the indictment.
(Emil Constantinescu, Păcatul Originar, sacrificiul fondator [Original Sin, founding sacrifice],
vol 1, p 353-354).

The attorneys for the defence were Nicolae Teodorescu and Lucescu
Constantin – according to the trial record.

The first statement in the trial was made by judge Gică Popa,
who informed the defendants of the exceptional nature of the trial.

"

"The charges, according to the file drafted by
prosecutor Major Dan Voinea:

1. Genocide –
more than 60,000 victims

2. Undermining
state power by organizing armed action
against the people and state powers

3. Destruction of public assets,
including destruction and damage of buildings,
explosions in cities, etc.

4. Undermining the
national economy

"

"Later there was also a fifth charge in the indictment for the Târgoviște trial,
which was introduced by Ion Iliescu in Bucharest. (Grigore Cartianu, Sfârşitul Ceauşeştilor
[The End of the Ceaușescus], p 478, annexes)

Prosecutor Voinea asked that they be sentenced to
death for the penal crimes mentioned in the four
charges. "

"During the trial, Ceaușescu repeatedly said that he
shall only answer to the Great National Assembly,
that the trial was a sham and that he did not admit anything. "

"Judge Popa responded: "Sham is what you did for 25 years.
That is the sham you have committed and you have brought the
country to the brink of collapse"."

"As he was bombarded with accusations,
Nicolae Ceaușescu often referred to the
"coup" that was being conducted by "traitors" and "foreign agencies". "

"The last part of the trial focused on the attorneys for the defense,
Nicolae Teodorescu and Constantin Lucescu,
but they were acting like prosecutors.

"

"Nicolae Teodorescu found the Ceaușescus to be guilty of all charges
brought by the prosecutor and asked that his clients be sentenced to
death.

"

"Constantin Lucescu says that allowing Ceaușescu have the floor again would be "an offense against the Romanian people"."

"On the morning of December 25, 1989,
eight paratroopers from Boteni were loaded up in two helicopters to receive a
"grade zero mission".

"

"Without their knowing, they were to form the firing
squad made up of seven NCOs led by Captain Ionel Boeru –
they were all armed. The eight were recruited as volunteers from 50
officers and then from 20 volunteers. "

"Chief of the paratrooper commando and chief of the firing squad,
Ionel Boeru reports on Ceaușescu's condition before the trial: "
He was unrecognizable. White as a sheet, hair all ruffled up and unshaven.
Wearing aftershave though, he smelled nice. (...) (Grigore Cartianu, Sfârşitul Ceauşeştilor [The End of the Ceaușescus])"

"At 2:30 pm, the Tribunal withdrew to an adjoined room to deliberate.
Ten minutes later, the panel of judges reentered
the room and Gică Popa read the sentence:"

""The Tribunal, on behalf of the law and of the people,
having deliberated in secret, unanimously sentences defendants
Nicolae Ceaușescu and Elena Ceaușescu to capital punishment and
confiscation of their entire estate..."

"

"Execution

Their hands were tied behind their back,
despite Elena Ceaușescu's protests. The couple had two final wishes:
that they die together and that their hands not be tied. Only their first wish is granted.
They were then led by four paratroopers to the wall where they were to be executed.
They are executed at 2:50 pm.

"

"Dorin
Cârlan, sergeant, one of the eight paratroopers and one of the four that led the dictators to the wall where they were executed said:

"I was three feet behind Ceaușescu. When he saw that we were walking towards the wall,
he realized that he had no way out of this. (...) I was left with that image of...
it was something like in 'The Death of a Deer'. Then he let a tear fall, actually
several, and started saying: 'Death to the traitors!'My colleagues turned him to face
forward. But he continued to shout: 'Death to the traitors! Long live the free and independent
Socialist Republic of Romania! History will avenge me!' (...)
He then started to sing a fragment of the Internationale:
'Damned of the Earth, stand up / Prisoners of starvation,
stand...' He never got to say 'up', cause we had
already sent him up". (Grigore Cartianu, Sfârşitul Ceauşeştilor
[The End of the Ceaușescus], p 392-393, citing the Dorin Cârlan interview,
Bucharest, November 4, 2009) "

"The official announcement of the execution
of the dictator was made on Romanian television
on the evening of the 25th.

"

"The Ceaușescu regime was overthrown,
but the price was huge: 1142 dead, 3138 wounded.
No less than 748 orphan children of martyr heroes were recorded.
(Source: Wikipedia, State Secretariat for Revolutionary Problems,
an institution subordinated to the Government of Romania.) "

"After the street riots, there was a revolution of mentality and the rebuilding of fundamental democratic values in accordance with the demands and requirements of the new world. This sacrifice led to the regaining of the right to freedom of expression of thoughts, opinions, beliefs, as well as rights to property and free movement. "