18 June 2014

PRESS RELEASE

The Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorized to bring to public knowledge the following:

In the case having as object the notification formulated by the Institute for Investigation of Communism’ Crimes and the Memory of Romanian Exile against  the named Visinescu Alexandru, the  prosecutors  of the Section  for criminal pursuit and forensics within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice have  finalized  the investigations  and have ordered his sending to trial for  committing crimes against humanity.

            In the bill of indictment prepared, the prosecutors have held the following  factual situation:

            During 1956 – 1963, the defendant, in his quality as commander of the  Penitentiary Ramnicu Sarat, has committed systematic actions and omissions, which had as result the  persecution  of the  collectivity representing the  political inmates incarcerated in this penitentiary, by depriving them of   fundamental human rights or by serious restraint of the exercise of the same, for political  reasons.  Thus, the inmates  were exposed to  such existence or treatment conditions, as to led them to their physical destruction, without being assured for them a minimum of medication and  without being  granted to them  adequate medical care and nursing. At the same time, the untreatment of the patients, the refusal of their transfer to the penitentiary hospitals, the degradation of the health condition of the convicts by lack of food, lack of  heating, the punishments applied discretionary and abusive, the inhuman detention conditions, the bad treatments, the beatings and other violence, the ignorance of the letters and  notifications formulated by the inmates were as all actions intended to lead to the physical extermination of the incarcerated persons.

            The main  categories of inmates existing in the penitentiary,  as results exactly from a note of the defendant to the Security Council of the State from the year 1967, were:  former leaders in the bourgeois-landowner  government and in the leaderships of the  National Peasant Party and National Liberal Party, former leaders of  different subversive organizations, former leading staff after 23 August 1944, former  staff of the  Ministry for Home Affairs after 23 August 1944, former leaders of different religious sects, other more isolated cases.

            The living conditions within the  Penitentiary Ramnicu Sarat, as results from the documents and as described by the former inmates, have created the premises for  occurrence of some extremely sever affections, resulting in  few  cases of death, probing the nature of abusive and neglectful treatment applied by the prison commander lieutenant colonel (r) Visinescu Alexandru.

            The  imposed regime has not at all assured the  minim surviving conditions on long-term, having in view that  the mostly the  sentences extended over a period which exceeded 10 years. The death of the inmates occurred, thus,  following a lent but efficient process, by which  they where physically and psychically tortured.

            Until present, from the studied documents, has been identified 138 inmates which passed through the Penitentiary Ramnicu Sarat during the mandate of Visinescu Alexandru.

            It has to be mentioned also the fact that the regulations on the matter of detention conditions which were in force in that period, formed only the premises for the organization of the extermination regime in the prisons and labor colonies, or covered it in an official form, while the concrete measures taken for the annihilation  of the political prisoners were left in the care the prison’ commanders and amended only by orders and informal recommendations which came   from the party.

            Practically, the organization and the operation of the extermination  regime,  unable to  be  settled by official documents, depended on the efficiency and inventiveness of the prison’ commanders, but also  on their obedience shown   to the party.

            The distribution at the  leadership  of the prisons was done by taking into account the  quality of the political  inmates and the interest of the Party  for   their quick elimination. It is  noted that within the  Penitentiary Ramnicu Sarat were incarcerated  mainly personalities of the political life, leaders of historical parties, fact that determined the necessity of designation of a  prison trustful commander experienced in reeducation. Thus is explained the extreme hardness of the commander  Alexandru Visinescu and   disturbing  results obtained in the extermination process drafted by him.

            The file was sent, for competent  solving, to the Court of Appeal.

We mention that this phase of the criminal process represents, according to the  Criminal Procedure Code, the  finalizing of the criminal investigation and the sending  of the bill of indictment to court for trial , situation which can not at all break the presumption of innocence.