CEAUSESCU: I repeat: I am the president of Romania and the commander in chief of the Romanian army. Within hours Ceauescu was beseiged inside the Central Committee building by irate crowds. The following is a transscript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. They carried out acts that are incompatible with human dignity and social thinking; they acted in a despotic and criminal way; they destroyed the people whose leaders they claimed to be. The people were slaves. These two defendants have robbed the people, and not even today do they want to talk. The prosecutor agrees, but stresses that they lived in them while the people suffered. 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What may happen of course, is that like a frog slowly being boiled in a pot, the process happens so slowly that people arent aware of it themselves. In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. This shows how little patriotism there is, how many treasonable offenses were committed. They have lost all respect for their commander in chief. PROSECUTOR: Yes, but you are paying the mercenaries. Because of this indictment, I call for the death sentence and the impounding of the entire property of the two accused. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? No one can dissolve the National Assembly. You told us about it here. PROSECUTOR: We have wonderful programs. But those who shot at the young people were the security men, the terrorists. A little noticed article in the Sydney Morning Herald notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara? In 1947, we assumed power, but under completely different circumstances. The following is a transcript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. PROSECUTOR: Please, ask Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu whether they have ever had a mental illness. I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world. CEAUSESCU: Her scientific papers were published abroad! You were not used to talking to the people. No one can ask Bergdahl, since he is now reported as being unable to speak to anyone including his family. They were even worse than the king, the former king of Romania. The hardship exemption rules, for example, let anyone who experienced domestic violence avoid the mandate, without providing any documentation of abuse. Nicolae Ceauescu (Romanian pronunciation: [nikola.e tea.uesku]; 26 January 1918 -- 25 December 1989) was a Romanian Communist politician. PROSECUTOR: Whether you have ever had a mental illness. Answer this question! You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to. I will only speak in front of it. Usurpers have been punished severely during the past centuries in Romania's history. Dressed in a black Persian lamb hat with matching coat collar, Ceausesecu, 71, was . One momentCeauescu was in total control of Romania, determined to crush his enemies. The palaces belong to the people. PROSECUTOR: Nicolae Ceauescu should tell us why he does not answer our questions. Sections in italic type are from the austrian television comentary: NICOLAE CEAUSESCU: I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. But we are not talking about people. We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? Share . For example, there isa silent falling away among American allies. The catastrophic situation of the country is known all over the world. They cultivated the soil in line with your orders and had nothing to eat. After an outage of transmission of Romanian television, the speaker announces the verdict in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu is death sentence. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support. Answer this question! PROSECUTOR: And who heads Securitate? I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceauescus to death. CEAUSESCU: I do not recognize this court. Did you know that you can purchase some of these books and pamphlets by Richard Fernandez and share them with you friends? Romanian demonstrators gathered in front of the headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party in Bucharest during the 1989 anti-communist revolution, 22 December 1989. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Incredible. Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? You cannot talk to me in such a way! What about the accounts? quotes Israeli oppositionists as accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of loathing Barack Obama so intensely it has endangering the Jewish states security. Now the counsel for the defense, who was appointed by the court, asks whether Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu know the aforementioned facts -- that he is no longer president, that she has lost all official functions. PROSECUTOR: You have never been able to hold a dialogue with the people. The Defence Minister, General Vasile Milea, was said to have committed suicide although it is equally possible he was shot by a member of the Ceauescu retinue. Shakespeare dramatized the turnabout in his famous scene. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. This is a legal trial, and I honor them by defending them. I just couldnt convince myself to do it., He is not alone. One of the first acts of the new leadership was to place the security forces, the dreaded Securitate, under control of the army. The destruction of buildings and state institutions, undermining of the national economy, in accordance with Articles 165 and 145 of the penal code. I am now talking to you as simple citizens, and I hope that you will tell the truth. ELENA CEAUESCU: Incredible. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceausescus are no longer valid. Elena and Nicolae Ceasescu state: Well, you told us about it. I will not answer any question. I ask the chairman of the prosecutor's office to read the bill of indictment. The destruction of buildings and state institutions, undermining of the national economy, in accordance with Articles 165 and 145 of the penal code. . Those moments of Ceausescus weakness and the power of popular pressure explain why, a mere 48 hours later, Ceausescu was attempting to flee Romania, all power lost. The administrations threats, so dire on paper, are toothless in practice because they actually cant afford to carry out the threat. PROSECUTOR: Do you not know anything about the order to shoot? Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? He then tried to placate the crowd by offering to raise workers' salaries by 200 lei per month (about 18 U.S. dollars at the time, yet a 10%-20% raise for a modest salary) and student scholarships from 100 to 110 lei while continuing to praise the achievements of the past 42 years. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide or did you, as a chemist, only deal with polymers? At the moment the situation is rather uncertain. A later article shows that Australia is moving toward. He was Secre. I will not answer you putschists, Ceausescu says. PROSECUTOR: Children cannot even buy plain candy, and you are living in the palaces of the people. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. Elena and Nicolae reject this. Transcriptul "procesului" Nicolae si Elena Ceausescu. The palaces belong to the people. We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government. The process usually follows this path. This is where President Ceausescu gave his final speech in December 1989, before fleeing Bucharest. However, why are your programs not implemented? In the uprising by people against Ceausescu during this speech and in subsequent days 1,058 people lost there lives. What happened was that he was misled by Centralized Information. A later article shows that Australia is moving toward purchasing Japanese submarines to replace its existing fleet. "Video of Ceausescus Last Speech, December 1989," in World History Commons, https://worldhistorycommons.org/video-ceausescus-last-speech-december-1989 [accessed March 4, 2023], Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. He still considers himself to be the country's president and the commander in chief of the army. The prosecutor says: The world already knows what has happened here. CEAUSESCU: As a citizen, as a simple citizen, I tell you the following: At no point was there such an upswing, so much construction, so much consolidation in the Romanian provinces. Paper is patient. He had been falling for a long time, and proved the last to know. No one can deprive me of these functions. Suntem in fata unui tribunal al poporului. Workers from a Bucharest power plant started chanting Ti-mi-oa-ra! VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ For the first time that anybody could remember, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu was interrupted at a public speech by boos and jeers that began a huge demonstration against him in Bucharest Thursday. The War of the Words for $3.99, Understanding the crisis of the early 21st century in terms of information corruption in the financial, security and political spheres Workers, military units and other popular organizations were bused to the capitol and given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. This shows again how false the charges are. ELENA CEAUSESCU: We will not sign any statement. 105). I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not say anything more. PROSECUTOR: You claim to have taken measures so that every peasant is entitled to 200 kilograms of wheat. Then he is treated like a normal citizen. This is not possible. Lech Walesa has openly accused president Obama as unable to lead in world. They used to fetch people from orphans' homes or from abroad whom they trained in special institutions to become murderers of their own people. PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. Tyrannies are buried by the shovel of self-deception. Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. Centralized regimes may seem to collapse suddenly, yet in reality they have been coming apart for a long time. Sooner or later an administration neuters itself from sheer implausibility. They not only deprived the people of heating, electricity and foodstuffs, they also tyrannized the soul of the Romanian people. ELENA CEAUSESCU: I will not answer. We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. PROSECUTOR: That is to say, as a deputy prime minister you did not know about the genocide? I guaranteed that every village has its schools, hospitals and doctors. He, Elena and four others managed to get to the roof and escaped by helicopter, only seconds ahead of a group of demonstrators who had followed them there.. Elena says: Look, and that they are calling genocide. ELENA CEAUESCU: Such impudence! PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceauescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. All their property will be impounded. Why did you starve the people? They are not only accused of offenses committed during the past few days, but of offenses committed during the past 25 years. In 1947, King Michael showed more dignity than you. A horse or a hearse? Elena answers: The intellectuals of this country should hear you, you and your colleagues. Machine guns splattered against a background of church bells ringing in triumph. 23 December 1989: Nicolae Ceauescus overthrow follows a week of carnage in which thousands of protesters against his regime were killed in cold blood. But their triumph was marred by the first confused reports of fresh bloodshed in the early evening following heavy machine-gun fire in Bucharests Republic Square. I will not speak with you provocateurs anymore, and I will not speak with the organizers of the putsch and with the mercenaries. PROSECUTOR: This situation is known. In the wake of growing tension over an uprising in Timioara in which thousands were reportedly killed, Ceauescu decided to give a nationally televised speech before a crowd in Palace Square . Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceauescu, https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Transcript_of_the_closed_trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceauescu&oldid=6470911, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Usurpers have been punished severely during the past centuries in Romania's history. What prevents him from doing so? We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? CEAUSESCU: Nobody can change the state structures. Storm Over the South China Sea $0.99, how China is restarting history in the Pacific Defendant, if you had no accounts in Switzerland, will you sign a statement confirming that the money that may be in Switzerland should be transferred to the Romanian state, the State Bank. Have you understood them? This year, the crowd begins to chant unscripted comments back at the dictator. The English translation is by the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. The details are known. A voice in the studio said that the army was wholly on the side of the people. Now we are making a last attempt. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support.
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