Romanian former president Ion Iliescu, who presided over the Eastern European country’s chaotic transition from communism to democracy, died on Tuesday, August 5, aged 95, the government said.
“It is with deep regret that the government announces the passing of the former President of Romania, Mr. Ion Iliescu,” said the statement published online. The government extended its condolences to Iliescu’s “family and all those close to him.” It added that details of his state funeral would be communicated in the coming days. Iliescu was hospitalized for lung cancer in early June. Last week, the Bucharest hospital where he was receiving treatment said his general condition was “critical.”
The influential politician was last seen in public in 2017, when he was questioned by prosecutors. Born on March 3, 1930, Iliescu served as former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s minister for youth. But in the 1970s, he fell into disgrace and was sidelined. He rose to power during the December 1989 anti-communist uprising that toppled Ceausescu, under circumstances that remain unclear, becoming the self-appointed leader of an interim governing body, the National Salvation Front.
Iliescu then won a landslide victory in the country’s first democratic elections in May 1990. He was reelected for a four-year term in 1992, but was defeated at the polls in 1996, only to return to power in 2000 for a last term allowed by the Constitution.
During his third term, Romania joined NATO in 2004 and signed the European Union accession treaty, with membership becoming effective in 2007. Over the past two decades, Iliescu has faced charges of crimes against humanity over the violence during the fall of communism.
In a separate case, he was also indicted over his role in calling in miners to crush student protests after his election in 1990. The crackdown drew widespread international condemnation. But due to legal wranglings, Iliescu, who has denied any wrongdoing, did not stand trial in either case.
