CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN

ROMANIA

Done by Pădure Ion

 INTRODUCTION
The death penalty is no longer valid in Romania, because Romania is in the European
Union, and the death penalty does not exist there. The reintroduction of the death
penalty would mean taking the country out of the European Union.
On 7 January 1990, shortly after the Ceauşescus were summarily shot(25 decembrie
1989), the leaders of the National Salvation Front abolished the death penalty by
decree. Some Romanians saw this as a way for former Communists to escape from
punishment and demanded reinstatement of the death penalty in a series of protests in
January 1990. In response, the leadership scheduled a referendum on the question for 28
January, but cancelled the vote ten days before it was taking place. On 27 February
1991, Romania ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant (Law
nr. 7/1991). On December the constitution prohibited the death penalty. The prohibition
was retained when an updated version of the constitution was adopted in 2003. The
Constitution provides that no amendment is allowed if it were to result in the
suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms, which has been interpreted to mean
that the death penalty may not be reinstated as long as the present constitution is in
force. Romania is also subject to the European Convention on Human Rights since May
1994 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union since January 2007,
both abolitionist documents
 EXECUTION OF THE CEAUSESCU FAMILY
• The execution of the Ceausescu couple took place in
the circumstances of the revolutionary events in
Romania, which took place between December 16
and 25, 1989. After the execution of the couple, the
death penalty was abolished in Romania.
• They were accused of:
1. Genocide – over 60,000 victims
2. Undermining of state power by organizing armed
actions against the people and state power.
3. Offence of destruction of public property by
destroying and damaging buildings, explosions in
cities, etc.
4. Undermining the national economy.
5. Trying to flee the country using funds of over $1
billion deposited in foreign banks.
• Before the execution, Nicolae Ceaușescu declared,
"We could have been shot without having this
masquerade!“
• Just after the trial, the Ceaușescus were executed at
4:00 p.m. local time at a military base outside
Bucharest on 25 December 1989. The execution was
carried out by a firing squad consisting of paratroop
regiment soldiers and hundreds of volunteers. The
Ceaușescus' hands were tied by four soldiers before
the execution. Popular history author Simon Sebag
Montefiore has claimed that, before the sentences
were carried out, Elena Ceaușescu screamed, "You,
sons of bitches!" while being led outside and lined up
against the wall; at the same time Nicolae Ceaușescu
sang "The Internationale".
In 1990, a member of the National Salvation Front
reported that 120 bullets were found in the couple's
bodies.
THE DEATH PENALTY IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA
o The communist regime established in 1945 in Bucharest tried to abolish all forms of anti-
communist resistance, thus amending the criminal laws and restoring the death penalty. The
death penalty was reintroduced in the criminal legislation of Romania through a series of laws
and decrees, the most important of which is Law no. 50 from January 21, 1945 and Law no. 312
from April 24, 1945. Until this moment, the death penalty had been abolished in Romania since
the time of Alexandru Ioan Cuza and the only ones who could fall under its incidence were the
traitorous soldiers. Romania is the first European country to abolish this punishment, in 1865,
unfortunately not definitively.
o The communist regime not only adopted laws, but also set up military tribunals. A military
tribunal was considered the "armed arm of the people." The death penalty was applied primarily
to those who rebelled against the regime, political prisoners, but also to those of common law,
this category including particularly dangerous criminals, rapists or all those who committed
serious crimes against public order and peace. . According to the laws, the execution of those
sentenced to capital punishment was carried out by shooting, by the execution platoons. Each
platoon consisted of 12 members, who received stores with 5 cartridges
o During the Ceausescu period, the executions were carried out only in the Jilava and Rahova
prisons. The archive documents still contain information about the dreaded "Fort 13" in Jilava,
in the space specially arranged for the execution of those sentenced to death. In Rahova, the
executions took place in an underground shooting range.
 Jilava prison

Execution ceremony- until the execution, an entire ceremony was taking place. Thus, according
to the law, the death row inmate was tied to his hands and feet and kept for several hours in a dark
room without light. The moment he was taken out of that space, he became extremely confused
because of the outside light.
 THE LAST PERSON SENTENCED TO DEATH
• In the Ceausescu era in Romania 104
people, intellectuals or common law
criminals were sentenced to death and
executed by shooting.
• The last Romanian that died in the rain
of bullets of the execution platoon was
Ion Pistol, a citizen sentenced to death
by the Teleorman Court, for a
particularly serious murder. His
execution took place on 12 May 1987.
 THE LIST OF PEOPLE EXECUTED IN ROMANIA
Kingdom of Romania: Communist period:
 Filimon Sârbu, communist activist and anti-fascist militant, 1941  Nicolae Dabija, anti-communist resistance fighter, 1949
 Remus Koffler, communist activist, 1954
 Francisc Panet, communist activist, 1941  Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, purged justice minister, 1954
 Pompiliu Ștefu, communist activist and anti-fascist militant, 1942  Eugen Țurcanu, Pitești Prison figure, 1954
 Iosif Capotă, anti-communist resistance fighter, 1958
 Nicolae Mohănescu, socialist activist and anti-fascist militant,  Toma Arnăuțoiu, anti-communist resistance fighter, 1959
1942  Oliviu Beldeanu, lead participant in the 
 Petre Gheorghe, communist activist and anti-fascist militant, 1955 seizure of the Romanian embassy in Bern, 1960
1943  Ioanid Gang, group of five bank robbers, 1962
 Gheorghe Arsenescu, anti-communist resistance fighter,
 Ion Antonescu, World War II-era dictator, 1946
1962
 Mihai Antonescu, foreign minister under Ion Antonescu, 1946  Ion Rîmaru, serial killer, 1971
 Gheorghe Alexianu, governor of Transnistria, 1946  Gheorghe Ștefănescu, businessman convicted of economic
crimes, 1981
 Constantin Vasiliu , general and Gendermarie commander, 1946  Ion Pistol, convicted murderer, 1987
 Romanian Revolution:
 Nicolae Ceaușescu, dictator, 1989
 Elena Ceaușescu, wife of Nicolae, 1989
 METHOD OF IMPALEMENT
The death penalty has a long and varied history in Romania. Vlad Țepeș is known all over the
world for executing thousands of people by impalement method.
The Impalement was a method of torture and execution of great effect on the population of the
Middle Ages. Those sentenced to such punishment were pierced by thorns and then usually hung
on the city walls to create a state of fear. Although it was very difficult, the method paid off in Vlad
Țepeș's time, respectively the Turkish attacks and robberies were diminished.
The purpose was to crucify man in such a way that death would not be immediately, A large pin
was prepared, longer than the stature of a man, which will be fixed in the ground, the tip being
sharp as a nail and greased with a tallow to slide. The man could be stabbed in the middle , but
there was a risk of piercing a vital organ, and the man died too quickly. Therefore, in the most
common method of Țepeș's executioners, the victim was lying on the ground, with his arms tied
behind his back, inserted the tip through his anus, then pulling both legs tied with ropes to his
ankles. Then, one executioner beats with a wooden hammer at the another end of the tip, carefully,
so as not to pierce the two organs that were known to cause immediate death: the liver and the
heart. Man was thus crucified, in terrible torment, but with vital organs functioning. He was slowly
dying of suffering, thirst, hunger and the attack of crows that were attracted by the smell.
ARTICLE 22 OF THE ROMANIAN CONSTITUTION
• In Romania, art. 22 of the Constitution
represents a prohibition of the death penalty,
from which there can be no exceptions. The
death penalty is considered to be contrary to
natural human rights.
• Article 22, first paragraph, of the Romanian
Constitution provides as follows: "The right to
life and the right to physical and mental
integrity of the person are guaranteed! “
• The second paragraph provides that “no one
shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading
treatment”
• The third paragraph privides that: “the death
penalty is forbidden!”