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*Attempting to flee the country using over $1 billion deposited in foreign banks.|image=[[File:Crop-Nicolae Ceaucescu 1978.jpg|110px]] [[File:Elena Ceausescu.jpg|110px]]|Image_Caption=Nicolae Ceaușescu (left), President of the [[Socialist Republic of Romania]] from 1974, also General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party since 1965, and his wife Elena Ceaușescu (right), were executed following trial on 25 December 1989.|name=Trial of the Ceaușescus|sentence=[[Capital punishment in Romania|Death]]|convicted=Nicolae Ceaușescu and Elena Ceaușescu|date=25 December 1989}}
'''The trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu'''
Nevertheless, the charges did not affect the trial. General [[Victor Stănculescu]] had brought with him a specially selected team of [[paratroopers]] from a [[crack troops|crack regiment]], handpicked earlier in the morning to act as a [[firing squad]]. Before the legal proceedings began, Stănculescu had already selected the spot where the execution would take place: along one side of the wall in the [[barracks]]' square.<ref name="Burakovski273"/>
Nicolae Ceaușescu refused to recognize the [[tribunal]], arguing its lack of constitutional basis and claiming that the revolutionary authorities were part of a Soviet plot.<ref name="Burakovski273"/> His refusal to recognize the tribunal did not prevent the firing squad from carrying out the sentence immediately, on the same day as the trial.
==Arrest==
On 22 December 1989, during the [[Romanian Revolution]], Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu left the Central Committee building in Bucharest by helicopter toward [[Snagov]], from where they left soon afterwards towards Pitești.<ref>Burakovski, p. 272</ref>
==Creation of the tribunal==
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==Counsel for the defence==
The morning of the trial, prominent lawyer Nicu Teodorescu was having Christmas breakfast with his family when he was telephoned by an aide to Iliescu, and asked by the National Salvation Front to be the Ceaușescus' [[defense attorney|defence counsel]]. He replied that it would be "an interesting challenge".<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-24-mn-769-story.html |url-status=live |title=Ceausescus Expected to Be Rescued, Lawyer Says |agency=United Press International |date=24 January 1990 |work=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308090536/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-24-mn-769-story.html |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2021 }}</ref> Teodorescu met the couple for the first time in the Târgoviște "court room", when he was given ten minutes to
==Trial==
{{Infobox court case
At 5:30 a.m. on 25 December, the two were taken by an [[armored personnel carrier]] to the garrison command office where the trial would take place. After the medical visits, they were brought into the improvised courtroom.<ref name="TVR">{{cite web |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/HQVhRMp6MAUA8A?hl=en |title=Trial and Execution |work=[[Google Arts & Culture]] |author=[[TVR (TV network)|TVR]]|access-date=15 December 2023}}</ref> The trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu was very brief, lasting approximately one hour.<ref name="Biography 2017">{{cite web |title=Nicolae Ceausescu |website=Biography |date=28 April 2017 |url=https://www.biography.com/political-figure/nicolae-ceausescu |access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-elsner/trial-and-execution-the-d_b_401497.html |title=Trial and Execution: The Dramatic Deaths of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu |first=Alan |last=Elsner |website=[[HuffPost]] |date=22 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="NPR.org 2014">{{cite web |first=Soraya |last=Sarhaddi Nelson |title=25 Years After Death, A Dictator Still Casts A Shadow in Romania |publisher=NPR |date=24 December 2014 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/12/24/369593135/25-years-after-death-a-dictator-still-casts-a-shadow-in-romania |access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> Ceaușescu defended himself by arguing that the tribunal was against the [[1965 Constitution of Romania]] and that only the [[Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of Romania)|Great National Assembly]] had the power to depose him. He argued that it was a ''[[coup d'état]]'' organized by the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]].<ref name="Burakovski273" />▼
|name = Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu
|court = Exceptional Military Tribunal, a [[drumhead court-martial]] created at the request of a newly formed group called the [[National Salvation Front (Romania)|National Salvation Front]]
|image =
|imagesize =
|imagealt =
|caption =
|full name =
|date decided = 25 December 1989
|verdict=
Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were convicted of all charges and condemned to death
|charge=The main charge was [[genocide]].
|citations =
|ECLI =
|transcripts =
|judges = [[Victor Stănculescu]]
|number of judges =
|decision by =
|concurring =
|dissenting =
|concur/dissent =
|prior actions =
|appealed from =
|appealed to =
|subsequent actions =
|related actions =
|opinions =
|keywords = <!-- {{Hlist|...}} -->
|italic title = no
}}
▲At 5:30 a.m. on 25 December, the two were taken by an [[
Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were convicted of all charges and condemned to death in what amounted to a [[show trial]].<ref name=impreuna /> At one point, their forcibly-assigned lawyers abandoned their clients' [[legal defense|defence]] and joined with the [[prosecutor]], accusing them of [[capital crime]]s instead of defending them.<ref name=ceausescustenogram>[[:s:ro:Stenograma procesului Ceaușescu]], translated at [[:s:Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu]].</ref>{{primary source inline|date=May 2024}} No [[offer of proof]] was made for the Ceaușescus' alleged crimes. They were tried based on references, solely by
* The trial was held immediately, without a prior [[criminal investigation]].<ref name="Avocat Marian Roșca 2012"/>
* The suspects could not choose their own lawyers.<ref name="Avocat Marian Roșca 2012"/>
* The court did not attempt to find and prove the truth.<ref name="Avocat Marian Roșca 2012"/> There was no file of evidence presented to the court.<ref name="Antoniu 2019">{{cite web |last=Antoniu |first=Gabriela |title=Interviu integral – "Marius Tucă Show". Gen. C-tin Lucescu, despre procesul Ceauşeştilor: Nu a existat niciun fel de dosar. Nu am ştiut nici eu, nici procurorul |trans-title=Full interview
* An accusation of genocide was never proven. Four top Ceaușescu aides later admitted complicity in genocide in 1990.<ref name="reuters1990" /> [[Pro TV]] stated that there were 860 people killed after 22 December 1989 (i.e. when the dictatorial couple was no longer in charge).<ref>{{youTube|
* The Ceaușescus were accused of having $1 billion in foreign [[bank account]]s. No such accounts have ever been found.<ref name=impreuna/><ref name=ceausescustenogram />
* The judges' [[verdict]] allowed for [[appeal]]ing to a [[appellate court|higher court]]. The Ceaușescus were executed a few minutes after the verdict, rendering that provision moot.<ref name=impreuna/><ref name=ceausescustenogram /><ref name="Avocat Marian Roșca 2012">{{cite web |trans-title=Trials, famous cases- The Ceausescu trial. Aspects of judicial theory and practice. The most controversial Romanian trial |title=Procese, cazuri celebre- Procesul sotilor Ceausescu. Aspecte de teorie si practica judiciara. Cel mai controversat proces romanesc |website=Avocat Marian Roșca |date=20 October 2012 |url=http://www.avoconsult.ro/procese-cazuri-celebre-procesul-sotilor-ceausescu-aspecte-de-teorie-si-practica-judiciara-cel-mai-controversat-proces-romanesc.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020020554/http://www.avoconsult.ro/procese-cazuri-celebre-procesul-sotilor-ceausescu-aspecte-de-teorie-si-practica-judiciara-cel-mai-controversat-proces-romanesc.html |archive-date=20 October 2012 |url-status=dead |language=ro |access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref>
* The
==Execution==
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The firing squad began shooting as soon as the two were in position against a wall. The execution happened too quickly for the television crew assigned to the trial and death sentence to videotape it in full; only the last round of shots was filmed. In 2014, retired Captain Boeru told a reporter for ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper that he believes that the shots he fired from his rifle were solely responsible for the deaths of both of the Ceaușescus, because, of the three soldiers in the firing squad, he was the only one who remembered to switch his [[Pușcă Automată model 1986|assault rifle]] to fire fully automatic, and at least one member of the group hesitated to shoot for several seconds.<ref>{{cite news |last=Graham-Harrison |first=Emma |title='I'm still nervous,' says soldier who shot Nicolae Ceausescu |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/07/nicolae-ceausescu-execution-anniversary-romania |access-date=13 June 2019 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 December 2014}}</ref> In 1990, a member of the National Salvation Front reported that 120 bullets were found in the couple's bodies.<ref name=theday23janu/>
In 1989, Prime Minister [[Petre Roman]] told French television that the execution was carried out quickly due to
==Burial==
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==Aftermath==
On 1 March 1990, Colonel Gică Popa, who had presided over the trial and
In December 2018, Iliescu, former Deputy Prime Minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu, former [[Romanian Air Force]] chief Iosif Rus, and former National Salvation Front council member Emil Dumitrescu were indicted by Romanian military prosecutors for [[crimes against humanity]] for the deaths that occurred during the Romanian Revolution, most of which took place after Ceaușescu was overthrown. The indictment also made reference to the conviction and execution of the Ceaușescus "after a mockery of a trial".<ref name="RFE/RL 2018">{{cite news |title=Romanian Ex-President Iliescu Indicted For 'Crimes Against Humanity' |website=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |date=21 December 2018 |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/romanian-ex-president-iliescu-indicted-for-crimes-against-humanity-/29669414.html |access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> The investigation that led to the indictments had previously been closed in 2009, but was re-opened in 2016 as the result of a trial at the European Court of Human Rights.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Luca |first1=Ana Maria |title=Romania Indicts Former Officials for Usurping 1989 Revolution |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/04/08/romania-indicts-former-officials-for-usurping-1989-revolution/ |access-date=16 April 2019 |work=Balkan Insight |date=8 April 2019}}</ref>
==In the arts==
Swiss theatre director [[Milo Rau]] and his International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) wrote and produced the stage production ''[[The Last Days of the Ceausescus]]'' in 2009. The production was a re-enactment of the trial, and IIPM was able to obtain testimonies from individuals directly involved in the [[Romanian revolution]] (including dissidents, politicians, revolutionaries and ordinary Romanians) and the trial of the
A few days before the premiere at the [[Odeon Theatre (Bucharest)|Odeon Theatre]] in [[Bucharest]]<ref name=lastdaysiipm/> in 2010, Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu's son-in-law Mircea Oprean (the widower of [[Zoia Ceaușescu|Zoia]], who died in 2006), forced his way into rehearsals, saying that he and his brother-in-law [[Valentin Ceaușescu]] had registered the name "
The show then premiered at [[Hebbel am Ufer]] (HAU) in [[Berlin]], before touring Switzerland at the Schlachthaus Theater in [[Bern]], Theaterhaus Gessnerallee in [[Zurich]], and Südpol in [[Lucerne]].<ref name=lastdaysiipm/> It was also later produced at the [[Festival d'Avignon]] in France,<ref>{{cite web | title=The Last Days of the Ceaușescus by Milo Rau | website=Ashkal Alwan | url=https://www.ashkalalwan.org/program.php?category=4&id=97 | language=la | access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref> and a documentary film (''Die letzten Tage der Ceausescus'') was made about it.<ref>{{imdb title|3894634|Die letzten Tage der Ceausescus}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Last Days Of The Ceausescus | website=dafilms.com | date=10 October 2022 | url=https://dafilms.com/film/14869-the-last-days-of-the-ceausescus | access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref><ref name=interview2023>{{cite web | interviewer-last=Brînză | interviewer-first=Teia |first=Milo| last=Rau| title=Milo Rau: "Let's continue, but in another way" | website=Capital Cultural | date=30 June 2023 | url=https://capitalcultural.ro/en/milo-rau-lets-continue-but-in-another-way/ | access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>
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==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first=Adam |last=Burakovski |lang=ro |trans-title=Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship,
==External links==
* {{wikisource-inline|Transcript of the closed trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu}}
* [https://archive.org/details/rec-0001_202010 Procesul Ceaușeștilor - caseta originală]
{{Cold War|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:History of Târgoviște]]
[[Category:Nicolae Ceaușescu]]
[[Category:Romanian
[[Category:Trials of political people]]
[[Category:Trials in Romania]]
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