Romanian Communist-era Prison Commander Sentenced To 20 Years Jail

(Vatican Radio) A communist-era Romanian prison commander has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on charges of crimes against humanity for the deaths of 12 inmates. The sentencing of the elderly Alexandru Vişinescu in the country's first such trial has been welcomed by relatives of victims and prosecutors.  

Listen to Stefan Bos' report

Vişinescu, 89, was also ordered to remain two decades behind bars and to contribute along with government agencies to paying some $330,000 to relatives of the victims. The former commander, who was not in court to hear the ruling, has denied wrongdoing saying he was "merely following orders". But he has shown no remorse. 

His lawyer told reporters that he hasn't decided whether to appeal. 

HORROR PRISON

From 1956 to 1963,  Vişinescuran Râmnicu Sărat, a prison in eastern Romania where intellectuals and political and military officials were tortured and sometimes killed.

Anca Cernea, whose father and grandfather were political prisoners, called it "a moral victory". That view is shared by Radu Preda, president of Romania's  Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and Memory of the Romanian Exile. "It is clear that now we can talk of justice for victims of communism," he said. "Let's not regret that this man is to old to really feel what this sentence means for him...Let's see the beginning of justice for other cases." 

Preda, who initiated the case in 2013, has called it "the most important decision ever taken by Romania’s justice system regarding accountability 

for the communist era.”

About 500,000 Romanians were held as political prisoners in the 1950s and early 60s. But since the ouster of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in the 1989 revolution, many former communist officials have not yet been prosecuted. In fact, Visinescu is the first prison commander from that time to stand trial.