Romania: former communist prison chief indicted for genocide

(Vatican Radio) A man who led one of Romania's most notorious prisons during the Communist-era, Alexander Visinescu, has been indicted for genocide. It is the first such charge since the 1989 revolution, which saw the execution of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. Stefan Bos reports:

Followed by an army of journalists, the visibly upset 88-year-old former prison commander Visinescu left the prosecutors-general office in Bucharest, where he was charged with genocide. He even tried to punch a reporter.

Vasinescu attempted to convince the crowd he wasn't to blame for wrongdoing saying "I just followed orders."

That's not how prosecutors view his case. They say the now elderly somewhat frail looking man was once the feared leader of the Ramnicu Sarat prison from 1956 through 1963. Political prisoners reportedly died there after suffering beatings, hunger, cold and lack of medical care.

If convicted for genocide, he faces life imprisonment.

Long Investigation
Authorities only charged Visinescu after the Romanian Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes listed him among 35 former communist officials accused of human rights abuses

The Institute Executive President Andrei Muraru said "all political prisoners jailed by the Communist regime" in Ramnicu Sarat "were tortured physically and psychologically." He believes Visinescu "was criminally responsible for many deaths."

Yet Romanian media report that he still receives a state pension of nearly 1,000 dollars a month, more than four times the average pension in the impoverished European nation.

The procedure against Visinescu comes just days after an estimated 10,000 people participated in the beatification of Catholic priest Vladimir Ghika, who was tortured to death at a Romanian Communist prison for his faith at age 80 in 1954.

At the same time Romanian authorities have opened a museum this week in the military building where former Communist leader Ceausescu and his wife Elena were tried and executed for genocide during the country's 1989 revolution.