Ruperea Blestemului. Revolutia Romana din decembrie 1989

Cătălin Ranco Pițu studies the revolution in Romania. He looks at the violence after 22 December 1989. He says planned false reports helped Ion Iliescu’s group seize power. He links deaths to fear of terrorist attacks. These deaths came after the Ceaușescus fled, then faced arrest and execution.

This history is for readers who seek to grasp these disputed events. Its 20 chapters ask who fired on civilians. They ask why the regime fell so fast. Pițu looks at the chaos that came next. He asks why the executions took place. He explores possible tricks with radio and electronic signals. The term for this is radio-electronic deception. He weighs claims about terrorists, among them secret police agents. He asks whether a coup took over the revolution.

The book rests on what witnesses said. Pițu uses a Senate inquiry and press reports. He also uses written records of TVR broadcasts. He rejects claims that a terrorist force fought for power. He blames Iliescu’s group in politics and the armed forces instead. This group includes Gelu Voican Voiculescu and Nicolae Militaru. Both had been associates in the communist era. He asks why rival accounts live on. This clash reaches Romania’s institute devoted to the revolution. The book asks about truth and justice. It also asks how the public recalls these events.

Pițu draws on his work as a military prosecutor. He was born in Timișoara in 1973. He studied criminal law and forensic science. He did so at Bucharest’s Ecological University. Forensic science helps solve crimes through science. In 2001, he joined the Association of Penal Sciences’ Timișoara branch. In 2016, he moved to Bucharest for the Revolution case. He became chief military prosecutor in 2020. His career in the courts spanned 23 years. He signed the indictment, a formal set of charges. The case filled 3,000 volumes. It sought trials for Iliescu and Voiculescu. It also sought a trial for Rus Iosif. Rus had been the military aviation chief. The charges were crimes against humanity.