Bucharest: Romanian prosecutors have formally charged a former president with crimes against humanity over his role in violent protests 25 years ago, in which six people died and hundreds were wounded.
Prosecutors on Monday charged Ion Iliescu in connection with four deaths in a violent crackdown on June 1990 anti-government protest.
Iliescu, 85, went to the High Court of Cassation and Justice last week to hear the charges. He denies wrongdoing. Prosecutors said Iliescu and others including former Prime Minister Petre Roman and Romania’s former intelligence chief, Virgil Magureanu, organized “an attack on the civil population.”
They said they arranged transportation for 10,000 club-wielding coal miners who descended on Bucharest, attacked demonstrators, arrested about 1,000 people, causing three days of mayhem.