Justitia de tranzitie si evolutia Romaniei in post-comunism (marti, 25 august 2020): Dan Voinea, Antonie Popescu, Raluca Grosescu, Andrei Ursu, Cosmin Budeanca)

I encourage readers to watch the cogent interventions of my co-author Andrei Ursu, especially at min. 36:40-48:35, and from approximately 1:37:00- .

Unfortunately, aside from the rather factual and straight-forward contributions of Raluca Grosescu and Mariana Pirvulescu, the audience has to contend with the comments of Dan Voinea, Antonie Popescu, and Cosmin Budeanca, the moderator, who accepted at face value what Voinea and Popescu had to say.  Voinea refused to engage with Andrei Ursu’s presentation, instead relying on what he has repeated for years.  His comments deserve derision.  At 10:47, he says that after the 25th of December 1989 “nu s-a mai tras” (there was no more shooting) and “n-a murit nimeni” (nobody died), a so easily contradicted lazy lie that it is amazing.  After Andrei Ursu spoke, Voinea did not make any attempt to directly address what Mr. Ursu said.  No, instead  he repeated from min. 50:22 that in 90 percent of the cases (nice round number no?), it had been established…in Brasov, in Sibiu, in Timisoara, in Braila, and in Bucuresti. who had shot into who precisely.  At 53:10, he says that there doesn’t exist “nici un fel de dubiu” (any doubt), that the “terrorists” did not exist.  Instead, he goes on to talk about Pircalabescu and the Patriotic Guards, pompieri, militieni, and activisti de partid as having fired…but no where, in no case, were they securisti, the secret police of the communist regime.  At this point, 55:55, Cosmin Budeanca chimes in and parrots that we should speak of “criminali din sistem” (criminals of the system).  Throughout, this is what we get from Budeanca, Voinea, and Popescu, the globalization (and consequent dispersion) of blame…”communists,” those who were part of the system…were to blame, were guilty…the former Securitate disappear into the ether.

A few comments on Voinea and Popescu.  Voinea memorably was described by the respected Laura Codruta Kovesi as “having made mistakes not even a novice would make” when she dismissed him in 2009.  (See, for example, https://web.archive.org/web/20090926033848/http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/868918/Kovesi-despre-revolutia-ratata-a-lui-Voinea-A-gresit-ca-un-incepator/ )  (Despite this, Voinea’s claims were presented positively and uncritically in the chapter on December 1989 in the so-called “(Vladimir) Tismaneanu Commission Report” of 2006)  Significantly, Voinea’s claims about December 1989 are invoked by none other than the former Securitate themselves in their serial publication:   https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/dan-voinea-marturii-despre-revolutie-vitralii-lumini-si-umbre-an-viii-nr-29-decembrie-2016-februarie-2017-p-37/ .  The absurdity and the total lack of credibility of Voinea can be seen in the following passage from a 2015 interview with Dan Andronic (!) in Evenimentul Zilei:  Următorul dosar pe care l-am avut a fost cu cinci teroriști îmbrăcați în trei rânduri de costume. Erau reținuți acolo. I-am scos. Unul dintre ei, Pană, avea o cicatrice pe obraz. A făcut armata cu mine. Știam că-i zidar. Când l-am văzut, l-am întrebat: „Mă, ce cauți tu aici?”. Eu eram în uniformă, el nu m-a recunoscut. I-am zis: „Bă, eu sunt Dan Voinea, colegul tău de grupă, am făcut armata la Drăgășani”. Zice: „Dane, tu ești?”. „Da, am ajuns procuror militar și tu terorist. Ce faci aici, ce s-a întâmplat?”. „Păi, să vezi că m-au luat din comună ca zidar, să lucrez la Casa Poporului. Și eu, și ceilalți ne-am dus la Biserica Antim ca să ne dea de pomană. Vin şi nu mai ştiu ce”… Aveau trei rânduri de haine pe ei, pentru că la Casa Poporului nu intrai decât dacă aveai permis de intrare, şi ei aveau vreo trei legitimații. Aveau trei rânduri de haine, pentru că pe lângă hainele lor de lucru își mai puneau o pufoaică, o salopetă sau alte haine mai groase. (https://evz.ro/dan-voinea-nicolae-ceausescu-a-fost-sacrificat-de-comunisti-pentru-comunism.html)

Antonie Popescu (Facultatea de Drept, Universitatea din Bucuresti, 1992-1996) believes that the people on the ROMBAC from Bucuresti to Sibiu on 20 decembrie 1989…were not from the Securitate’s USLA…but from Soviet forces from Tiraspol (!):

Antonie Popescu 12:41pm Aug 7 Or fi fost la pregatire in Tiraspol de unde venea rrombacul?!

It should not come as a surprise.  Popescu is part of an organization that includes genuine revolutionaries from December 1989, but also former USLAs Constantin Isac, who absolves his Securitate of being responsible for the terrorism of December 1989:  http://www.asociatia21decembrie.ro/2010/02/lunetistii/ . (For more on Isac, see https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2010/04/18/cine-este-constantin-isac-martorul-la-uciderea-lui-trosca/;  https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2010/12/12/constantin-isac-intre-14-si-22-decembrie-dinamovist-de-judo-la-iasi-prezent-in-zona-crematoriului-cenusa-si-martor-in-piata-universitatii/ )  And of course the head of Popescu’s organization is a most interesting character indeed…:  https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/teodor-doru-maries-iunie-1991-eu-sustin-ca-martor-ocular-ca-securistii-nu-au-tras-ba-mai-mult-si-au-lasat-armele-si-munitia-acum-inteleg-de-ce-probabil-ca-aveau-informatii-ca-go/ ; https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/teodor-doru-maries-securitatea-80-la-suta-cu-noi-si-generalul-iulian-vlad/ )

Cosmin Budeanca, like so many others, does not appear to know and does not make any attempt to address the declassified documents of foreign governments and security services 30 years after the Revolution.  This willful ignorance is unforgivable.  The following should be required reading for anybody interested in what happened in December 1989:

https://rolandothomassonphd.home.blog/2020/02/23/the-romanian-revolution-of-december-1989-declassified-cia-us-department-of-state-british-foreign-office-canadian-external-affairs-department/