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| THE ILASCU GROUP FREED (4.07.07) |
| (2007-07-04) |
| Last updated: 2007-07-05 18:54 EET |
Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov-Popa had until last month been the last political detainees of a people which saw hundreds of thousands of political sentences, both in Communist Romania after 1944 and in the Eastern territories annexed by Soviets in 1940. Members of the dubbed ‘Ilie lascu group’, they were arrested on June 2nd 1992 at the peak of an armed conflict. Charges were laid against them, according to which they organized terrorist attacks against the Transniester separatist administration. No evidence was brought forth. It was a mock trial in a Stalinist court, throughout which the defendants were held in a cage.
Ilie Ilascu was sentenced to death for defending the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova. Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov Popa were sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Alexandru Lesco received a 12-year sentence. Petru Godiac was freed before the end of his sentence and settled in Romania. The only information on the 6th member of the group is that he was a mole inside the group and it was his false testimonies that led to the other 5 men being sentenced.
Ilascu lived through the terror of simulated executions 4 times. His parents passed away while he was in jail and he was not able to bid them farewell. Only after he gained the Romanian citizenship and was elected member of the Romanian Senate, was he freed in 2001. The others, however, served their sentences to the very last day. Meanwhile, they have also been granted the Romanian citizenship and never given up their credo.
During the ‘Star of Romania ’ National Order’ award ceremony, president Traian Basescu said:
"Ivantoc, Lesco, and Popa are three names that recall patriotism, heroism and self-sacrifice for the sake of one’s people. A president needs no justification to bestow the highest of orders of the Romanian state on such persons. It is the persons themselves that represent the justification.”
Back in 2004, with a majority of a 16-to-1 votes, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that in 1992, Russian troops ‘fought with and against separatist Transniester forces’. The Court ruled that Moscow pay damages for torture and the inhumane and degrading treatment that the Ilascu group members were subject to. In the words of Alexandru lesco, it was the solidarity of their fellow nationals that helped them throughout the ordeal:
“We are all overwhelmed with emotion but I think we’ll overcome it. I want to thank the Romanian people. I believe this medal also belongs to the Romanian people, not only to us. We want to thank Romanians for being there for us, for their support and their solidarity.”
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2025-04-03
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