When the intoxication of freedom turns into an obsession to grab everything, as Romanian democracy went downhill after the overthrow of Ceausescu, the "new" government suppressed the youth and the opposition with the help of the miners

When we talk about democracy in the Balkan countries, of course a large part frowns, as such a word seems out of place. The Balkan region has experienced for centuries invasions and imperial rule, the First and Second Balkan War, the First and Second World War, monarchies and a good part of them and the communist dictatorial regime. The latter has left a very pronounced mark that even after 33 years has not yet been erased from the memory of several Balkan states, among them Albania, as much as it manages to dictate with the spirit of hatred, division, inequality, oppression, intolerance, corruption galloping, manipulations and current politics. What can be said without shame is that the countries that installed the Soviet-type communist regime, made only a partial systemic change and not a complete one, and above all, they failed to rehabilitate psychologically from the trauma that communism caused and left behind. There is a lot of speculation and debate here. The failure to establish real democratic systems in the former communist countries of the Balkans is justified by the famous Katowice meeting, when Mikhail Gorbachev, the last former leader of the Soviet Union, laid out the plan for the infiltration and penetration of communist apparatchiks and bureaucrats into the new institutions. liberal democratic, in order to preserve a "legacy" of rule. Another part justifies it with the fact that such a hopeless situation in many countries of the Balkans that lived and suffered from communism, does not originate from any centuries-old extra-human tragedy, on the contrary, it is related to the lack of a culture of awareness, protection of human rights, equality, transparency, harmony in society, that in this way it is easier for them to reproduce forms of government, political classes, parties with a deformed political axis. In many countries of the Balkans such as: Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, etc., there is a collective depression that has lost the power, the will, the idea of ??improvement and the collapse of liberal democratic systems. The violent overthrow and execution of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu on December 25, 1989 was celebrated not only in Romania, but also in other communist states around the world as the clearest proof of how stubborn, arrogant, anachronistic communist leaders would end. who still did not accept the change in reality. For many Europeans living in the West, this event represents Romania very highly in the impression of the Occident, but from the Balkan point of view, this is no longer a matter of pride, but is abandoned and ignored even more as an event by the Romanian citizens themselves. The failure to create a true and pure democratic state, where economic development is not based on arbitrary exceptions, oligarchs, corrupt and authoritarian politicians are not created, but always intellectuals, students, educated people are the "engine" of society's progress, has made that dreamy illusion in the early 90s look more like a collective curse in Romania today.

What was the Romanian "Mineriada" of June 1990?

Today we will focus on one of the most enigmatic and unknown events in the Balkans and Western Europe in Romania, from today's point of view to create the conviction of why Romania could never enter the right axis of the future of its history. 6 months after the Romanian Revolution, the state dome that had assumed the role of arbiter and player in the country's political field, organized one of the bloodiest, horrifying, anti-democratic attacks on citizens and the opposition. "Mineriada", or the series of miners' anti-protests against students, intellectuals, public figures, professors, youths and citizens during the period June 13-15, 1990, is considered the real beginning where Romanian society entered the path of polarization and installation a regime with authoritarian features.

Youth and opposition against communists converted to democrats

Pas Revolucionit Rumun të përgjakshëm ku rreth 1 mijë veta humbën jetën nga përplasjet mes forcave pro-regjimit të Çauesheskut dhe forcave civile opozitare, drejtimin provizor të vendimit e mori Lëvizja Fronti i Shpëtimit Kombëtar, që drejtohej nga Ion Iliesku, një aparatçik komunist që nga rinia e tij deri në 1989. Iliesku u kthye më pas në një prej politikanëve më të fuqishëm të Rumanisë, duke u zgjedhur dy herë president, por roli i tij i luajtur në vendosjen e demokracisë në vend, është kontradiktor, i kontestuar dhe me shumë akuza të rënda. I konsideruar dikur si pasuesi i Çausheskut në krye të Rumanisë, ai u degdis nga ish-diktatori në pozicione jo të larta politike. Në fillim të vitit 1990, Fronti i Shpëtimit Kombëtar kishte vendosur të kthehej në forcë politike duke kërkuar pushtetin. Kjo gjë shkaktoi irritimin e shumë qytetarëve rumunë, sidomos të rinjve, intelektualëve, profesorëve, etj. Ata kërkuan që Iliesku të mos garonte në zgjedhjet e planifikuara të 20 majit 1990 për shkak të të kaluarës së tij si komunist. Antipatia mes këtyre kategorive të shoqërisë ndaj Ilieskut dhe bashkëpunëtorëve të tij të tij lidhej me frikën se shumë prej tyre ishin ish-anëtarë e burokratë të Partisë Komuniste të Rumanisë dhe dalja e tyre e beftë në krye të Revolucionit Rumun u pa si trashëgim pushteti nga kupola diktatoriale, që rrezikonte të ardhmen e shtetit ballkanik. Në janar 1990, një numër i madh minatorësh dhe punëtorësh u mblodhën nga mbarë Rumania dhe sulmuan zyrat e partive opozitare me Frontin e Shpëtimit Kombëtar, disa gazeta etj. Minatorët pranuan se u orientuan në mënyrë të fshehtë nga ish-pjesëtarë të Sekuritates, organi terrorizues famëkeq inteligjencës së diktaturës komuniste që kishte shtypur për mbi 40 vite Rumaninë. Megjithatë, studentët u organizuan dhe në 22 prill 1990, së bashku me profesorët dhe shumë qytetarë të tjerë, zaptuan Sheshin e Universitetit të Bukureshtit për të ndaluar Ilieskun dhe partinë e tij.

The 52-day youth protests could not stop the triumph of Ion Iliescu

For 52 days in a row, students did not back down from their demands. On April 25, 1990, they published the Proclamation of Timisoara, asking Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front to implement point 8: withdrawal from politics, non-participation in the elections of communist elements, communist officials or the secret service in the elections of May 20, 1990, relinquishing control of national television, the participation of all political forces in the elections, except the communist ones. They threw radical slogans full of hatred towards Iliescu, such as: "Wake up Romanians, you have new masters", "Iliescu is Ceausescu II", "Down with communism", "Iliescu, don't forget!" Young people don't love you!", etc. But the "new" political caste continued with its own agenda. The National Salvation Front won the May 20, 1990 elections with an overwhelming majority. This caused the wave of protests to fade and a large number of citizens to come to terms with reality. However, some resistance fighters did not leave the clash with the new regime that was emerging.

The state spoke in the language of "Krbaçi", Iliesku called the miners for help

On June 12, 1990, Ion Iliesku together with his associates decided to suppress the student protests and clear them from Bucharest University Square. The plan that followed was truly ominous for the future of the country. The president with absolute powers of Romania publicly unabashedly called on the country's miners to fight for the preservation of democracy in the country. This is where the communist anti-democratic dictatorial rhetoric, spirit, psychology begins to unfold openly. In a public appearance on June 13, 1990, Iliescu invited the miners and workers of Romania to purge the youth from Bucharest Square, considering them fascists, vandals, degraded fascist elements, drug addicts and propagandists. This created a state of panic and psychological terror in society. "All conscious and responsible forces must gather around the government building and the television to put an end to the forces of these extremist groups, in order to protect the hard-won democracy", declared the Romanian president. In the evening of that day, 3 trains with 10 thousand miners came from Petroshani to Bucharest. The miners were divided into 2 groups. Iliescu greeted them from the balcony of the government and ordered them to attack the protesting students. "I thank you for the reaction through the solidarity of the workers who have given their time. The delegation of miners led by Mr. Kozma will go towards the University Square to retake the area", the authoritarian president Çaueshku directed his crowds of supporters. in order to protect the hard-won democracy", declared the Romanian president. In the evening of that day, 3 trains with 10 thousand miners came from Petroshani to Bucharest. The miners were divided into 2 groups. Iliescu greeted them from the balcony of the government and ordered them to attack the protesting students. "I thank you for the reaction through the solidarity of the workers who have given their time. The delegation of miners led by Mr. Kozma will go towards the University Square to retake the area", the authoritarian president Çaueshku directed his crowds of supporters. in order to protect the hard-won democracy", declared the Romanian president. In the evening of that day, 3 trains with 10 thousand miners came from Petroshani to Bucharest. The miners were divided into 2 groups. Iliescu greeted them from the balcony of the government and ordered them to attack the protesting students. "I thank you for the reaction through the solidarity of the workers who have given their time. The delegation of miners led by Mr. Kozma will go towards the University Square to retake the area", the authoritarian president Çaueshku directed his crowds of supporters. Iliescu greeted them from the balcony of the government and ordered them to attack the protesting students. "I thank you for the reaction through the solidarity of the workers who have given their time. The delegation of miners led by Mr. Kozma will go towards the University Square to retake the area", the authoritarian president Çaueshku directed his crowds of supporters. Iliescu greeted them from the balcony of the government and ordered them to attack the protesting students. "I thank you for the reaction through the solidarity of the workers who have given their time. The delegation of miners led by Mr. Kozma will go towards the University Square to retake the area", the authoritarian president Çaueshku directed his crowds of supporters.

Violent clashes, the miners cooperated with the police, 6 citizens were killed

The miners engaged and acted as paramilitaries armed with iron rods, water pipes, etc., in coordination with the police, the Romanian secret service and the Anti-Terrorism Special Warfare Unit (USLA) surrounded and assaulted the students not only in Bucharest Square, but also the Bucharest Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the Intelligence Service of Romania. They abused the protesters with everything they had and helped the police to neutralize them. The damage was considerable, but the most tragic was the balance: 6 dead, 1300 injured and over 1200 arrested. The headquarters of the opposition parties were also destroyed, the two leaders of the National Christian Democratic Party of Peasants and the National Liberal Party were vandalized; Korneliu Koposu and Ion Ratiu. Even the opposition media did not escape the ruthless aggression of the state. The office of the newspaper "Rumania e Lirë" was destroyed, as well as "Baricada", "Dreptatea", etc. Even the publication of "Free Romania" was banned by the miners. These events were scandalously reported domestically. The media, the state dome and factors closely related to the regime considered this operation as "the defeat of fascist sites". But, the Romanian state lost much consideration in the West. The US threatened not to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Ion Iliescu as president of Romania, while the Council of Europe severely condemned the state's actions against the citizens. the state dome and factors closely related to the regime considered this operation as "the defeat of the fascist pages". But, the Romanian state lost much consideration in the West. The US threatened not to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Ion Iliescu as president of Romania, while the Council of Europe severely condemned the state's actions against the citizens. the state dome and factors closely related to the regime considered this operation as "the defeat of the fascist pages". But, the Romanian state lost much consideration in the West. The US threatened not to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Ion Iliescu as president of Romania, while the Council of Europe severely condemned the state's actions against the citizens.

Iliesku "paved" the road to power, undoing the 1989 Revolution

On June 15, 1990, after successfully reaping the brutal establishment of "order and security" by disrupting society, Iliesku addressed the miners, appreciating them for the sacrifice they made for the sake of democracy ". Thank you again for what you have demonstrated these days. You are a great force, with worker discipline and high citizenship, you are people of hope and capable of facing difficult times", greeted the Romanian president. On June 15, 1990, the Superior Military Committee of the Ministry of National Defense demanded the abolition of the Action Committee for the Democratization of the Army, claiming that it has played the role of political forces that have aimed at political and social destabilization with students.

Participants: The miners shouted 'Death to the intellectuals', we left the homeland

"The workers destroyed everything in my university and hit me on the head and hand. Some of my colleagues ended up worse by being arrested or sent to the hospital," an unnamed former architecture student told BIRN who was a participant in the miners' attack on the students on June 13-15, 1990. He remained with physical trauma, he returned after 5 years to his homeland and eventually fled to Sweden. "When I was leaving the scene, two pensioners saw me injured and said: Damn you, get what you deserve!", says the former student. The slogans of the workers and miners that they used in the "1990 Mineriad" were terrible like, "Death to intellectuals!", "We are workers, not thinkers". After that, thousands of students and professionals left in emigration to the West. Vasil Ene, the founder of the 1990 Mineriada victims' association,

Why did the state act in such an ugly way?

According to a Romanian sociologist, but also many citizens and critics, the state authorities of the time used the secret police by infiltrating the miners to push them towards the realization of the objectives planned in Bucharest. This was done to discourage fear and terror so that no opposition would be created. There are serious allegations that manipulations and propaganda have been carried out, as hatred was created against the liberal urban class, progressive intellectuals during exposure to the propaganda of the dictatorship. On the other hand, the paranoia and obsession of the new regime to establish total social control in society.

The third mineriade, Iliesku again used the miners to remove the prime minister

In the period September 24-September 26, 1991, the miners organized demonstrations against the government of Petre Romani. The head of the miners' union, Miron Kozma, who played a negative role in the 1990 Mineriada, signed the agreement with President Ilesku to accept the overthrow of Romani's government. Some say that this was done to hit Romani in order to favor Iliescu. The miners even went to the Prime Minister, the Parliament, clashed with the police and demanded the resignation of the president, but they did not succeed. Years later, former Prime Minister Roman said that the event in question was a coup, but was forced to accept his resignation. In this "mineriad" 2 passers-by and 1 gendarme died.

The former head of the miners, Miron Kozma, here is his dark story

Miron Kozma, the former head of the Miners' union, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1999 for the "Mineriada" of 1991. He became a controversial figure in Romanian society due to his involvement in serious events and rumored to be connected strongly with political power. Kozma won a monopoly on retail food sales in 1991 for miners in the Xhiulu Valley. On June 16, 1991, he killed a woman while overtaking, but only had his license revoked for 2 years. In February 1999, after the "Minerade" of 1999, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. President Iliesku pardoned him on December 15, 2004, on the eve of the end of the presidential mandate, but the day after, he changed the decision, considering the first as wrong. Kozma was released in 2005 when the Court of Appeal ruled against revoking his pardon. In September 2005,

Iliesku escaped from the "claws" of justice for the "Mineriada" of 1990.

On June 13, 2017, Ion Iliesku was charged with crimes against humanity, together with former Prime Minister Petre Roman, former Deputy Prime Minister Gelu Voikan Voikulesku, former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu, former deputy prosecutor of the Directorate of Military Investigation, Mugurel Kristian Floresku, etc., for actions during the June 1990 mine raid. In May 2019, the Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice decided that the investigation for the Mineriada File of 1990 should be done from scratch, finding illegality in the indictment filed by the military prosecutors and ordered its return to the Office of the Prosecutor.
 
Vasil Ene's conviction: Iliesku will never be punished! The state is supporting it

"Only 5 people, 3 miners and 2 secret service officials who robbed the destroyed houses of an opposition leader, have been tried", says Vasil Ene in his publication "The Black Book of Mining". In February 1994, the Court of Bucharest found guilty the security officers, colonel Ion Nikolae and officer Korneliu Dumitresku, for looting the house of the chairman of the Christian Democratic National Party of Peasants, Ion Ratiu, where they took 100 thousand dollars. The activist accuses the political influence in the justice system exercised by Iliesku and the state security apparatus for the postponement of the trial. "By constantly postponing the issues, they are trying to save Iliesku", said Ene. He is convinced that Iliesku will never be punished for the crimes committed.

Iliescu also escaped charges of crimes against humanity during the 1989 Revolution

Në 4 gusht 2022, ish-presidenti Iliesku u mor sërish i pandehurm për krime kundër njerëzimit, por këtë herë lidhur me Revolucionin e 1989. Ai u akuzua se përdori shfaqjet në televizion dhe shtyp për të krijuar psikozën e përgjithshme të terrorizmit në vend pas rënies së ish-diktatorit Çaushesku në dhjetor 1989. Bashkë me të u akuzuan ish-zv/kryeministri Gelu Voikan Voiçulesku, ish-komandati i Aviacionit Ushtarak Iosif Rus, ish-anëtar i Këshillit Provizor për Bashkimin Kombëtar të Rumanisë Emi Dumitresku. Sipas hetimeve gjatë Revolucionit Rumun në periudhën 22-30 dhjetor 1989, u përdorën 12.600.000 fishekë që shkaktuar vdekjen e 862 qytetërëve, plagosjen e 2150 të tjerëve, dëme psikologjike, arrestime masive, etj. Fillimisht dosja u dërgua në Gjykatën e Lartë të Kasacionit dhe Drejtësisë në 8 prill 2019, por në 2021 kjo gjykatë urdhëroi që dosja të kthehej në Zyrën e Prokurorisë Ushtarak pasi Gjykata Supreme përjashtoi disa pjesë të provave të marra nga Zyra e Prokurorisë Ushtarake.