Finally, I would like to refer once more to the genocide, the numerous killings carried out during the past few days. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. The prosecutor wants to find out on which basis the trial can be continued. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide or did you, as a chemist, only deal with polymers? No, no, he says. You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. CEAUSESCU: No one recognizes that. All Rights Reserved. No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: Her scientific papers were published abroad! Nicolae Ceauescu had been making speeches for over a couple of decades. What defamation, what provocations! I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceauescus to death. All their property will be impounded. Fiction. They wanted to separate the people from the army. JUDECATORUL: Va rog sa luati loc. An important historical square located on Victoriei Street. What do you think? Despite this, I ask the court to make a decision which we will be able to justify later as well. I have observed that she is not even able to read correctly, but she calls herself an university graduate. No one can ask Bergdahl, since he is now reported as being unable to speak to anyone including his family. What prevents him from doing so? The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99, reflections on terrorism and the nuclear age No, no, he says. The prosecutor says: The world already knows what has happened here. They cultivated the soil in line with your orders and had nothing to eat. I guaranteed that every village has its schools, hospitals and doctors. Plenara Comitetului Central al Partidului, Consiliul de Stat, Guvernul, repr. If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. I am now talking to you as simple citizens, and I hope that you will tell the truth. PROSECUTOR: And who heads Securitate? The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. One announcer called it the heart of our nation. CEAUSESCU: No, we will not sign. And you might perhaps have achieved the understanding of the Romanian people if you had now admitted your guilt. PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? At that very moment, many everyday Romanians saw the weakness of Ceauescu's regime for the first time. It gave no further details. The recent Bergdahl prisoner swap in which five hardened Taliban terrorists were released from prison is rubbing a lot of the military veterans attending D-Day events the wrong way. Ceauescu claims that the putsch was organized from abroad. I will not answer any question. They were only busy enslaving the people and building up an apparatus of power. In the uprising by people against Ceausescu during this speech and in subsequent days 1,058 people lost there lives. The War of the Words for $3.99, Understanding the crisis of the early 21st century in terms of information corruption in the financial, security and political spheres Forget what the politicians on Capitol Hill are saying about the prisoner swap. PROSECUTOR: This is how you worked with the people and exercised your functions! I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world. They not only deprived the people of heating, electricity and foodstuffs, they also tyrannized the soul of the Romanian people. Ceausescu begins his address to the people as he had in years past but this year the tide turned. Only the front rows supported Ceauescu with cheers and applause, with most of the crowd remaining impassive. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. From the archive, 23 December 1989: Celebration as a nation emerges from the dark, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The two defendants should also know that they are entitled to a counsel for defense, even if they reject this. Almost none of the uninsured will end up paying the ObamaCare mandate penalty, according to an updated analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which found that 87% will be able to claim an exemption. This is our home. PROSECUTOR: Do you not know anything about the order to shoot? Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. PROSECUTOR: That is to say, as a deputy prime minister you did not know about the genocide? PROSECUTOR: Well, Mr. We want a legal trial. Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. In the second stage their edicts become unenforceable from sheer impracticability. Ceausescu begins his address to the people as he had in years past but this year the tide turned. ALISON SMALE December 21, 1989. Military base Tirgoviste - December 25th 1989. PROSECUTOR: This situation is known. What prevents him from doing so? We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. The palaces belong to the people. Military base Trgovite - December 25th 1989. I am a member and the chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences. Storm Over the South China Sea $0.99, how China is restarting history in the Pacific This is a vulgar provocation. However, there is a difference between real sickness that must be treated and mental insanity which leads to corresponding actions, but which is denied by the person in question. One of the first acts of the new leadership was to place the security forces, the dreaded Securitate, under control of the army. The slippage that attracts the most attention of course, is discontent within the United States military. Ceausescu's last speech was interrupted but not by the shouts of the masses. But who gave the order to shoot? PROSECUTOR: And who wrote the papers for you, Elena? They carried out acts that are incompatible with human dignity and social thinking; they acted in a despotic and criminal way; they destroyed the people whose leaders they claimed to be. Ceauescu appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee building and began as he had in years past, with a speech laden with the usual Marxist-Leninist wooden language. However, he had badly misread the crowds mood. I have nothing to do with them. These two defendants have robbed the people, and not even today do they want to talk. We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. CEAUSESCU: No, the people are fighting for freedom and against the new forum. You have acted in a very irresponsible manner; you led the country to the verge of ruin and you will be convicted on the basis of the points contained in the bill of indictment. PROSECUTOR: And who wrote the papers for you, Elena? They were given red flags, banners and large pictures of Ceauescu. At the moment the situation is rather uncertain. A caretaker government was announced within an hour of the dictators capture. What happened? The workers were augmented by bystanders who were rounded up on Calea Victoriei. 23 December 1989: Nicolae Ceauescus overthrow follows a week of carnage in which thousands of protesters against his regime were killed in cold blood. The following is a transscript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. ELENA CEAUESCU: How can one tell us something like this? You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to. [1] The crowd, now totaling up to 80,000, were given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. For example, there isa silent falling away among American allies. What about the accounts? Why did you make the peasants starve? The catastrophic situation of the country is known all over the world. PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot in Bucharest, for instance? This source is a part of the The Romanian Revolution of 1989 teaching module. Tell the people that I will answer all their questions. PROSECUTOR: You have never been able to hold a dialogue with the people. . CEAUSESCU: I do not recognize you. And I also do not recognize the counsel for the defense. Richard III of England rode into Bosworth Field relying on his ally Baron Stanely to come to his aid. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceausescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. has openly accused president Obama as unable to lead in world. The catastrophic situation of the country is known all over the world. The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? PROSECUTOR: By now, there have been 34 casualties. We are all equal. PROSECUTOR: Please, ask Nicolae and Elena Ceauescu whether they have ever had a mental illness. They wanted to separate the people from the army. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. As a simple citizen, I tell you the following: For the first time I guaranteed that every peasant received 200 kilograms of wheat per person, not per family, and that he is entitled to more. Elena keeps whispering to him. One of the fundamental defenses of a democracy is the truth. Machine guns splattered against a background of church bells ringing in triumph. The Times of Israel quotes Israeli oppositionists as accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of loathing Barack Obama so intensely it has endangering the Jewish states security. A flight into peril, flashbacks to underground action. I do not recognize the court. You were so impertinent as to cut off oxygen lines in hospitals and to shoot people in their hospital beds. He was a cosignatory of an open letter harshly critical of the Ceauescu region which appeared last march. PROSECUTOR: Mr. Chairman, we find the two accused guilty of having committed criminal actions according to the following articles of the penal code: Articles 162, 163, 165 and 357. ELENA CEAUESCU: The terrorists are from Securitate. Thousands of workers were bussed into the square under threat of being fired. You, as a scientist, did you know about it? I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. And that assumes more dont simply dodge paying the penalty because of the ease with which they can claim a hardship exemption, or because the law places strict limits on the IRS ability to collect the money. As the other primary sources reveal, the Ceausescus were tried a few days later and executed as enemies of the new Romanian state. Any actual attempts to fine 30 million Americans would end in a political disaster. Transcriptul "procesului" Nicolae si Elena Ceausescu. This is not possible. Its provisional leader is the 73-year-old former Foreign Minister, Mr Corneliu Mnescu. The prosecutor wants to find out on which basis the trial can be continued. The atmosphere was one of jubilation, and the over-riding feeling among the thousands celebrating in the city centre before the shooting began was one of undiluted triumph. Why did you ruin the country so much: Why did you export everything? PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. Free elections would be held as soon as possible, and independent media would be established. I do not recognize the court. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. CEAUSESCU: I repeat: I am the president of Romania and the commander in chief of the Romanian army. Only a few hours before the Genius of the Carpathians had been in apparently complete command. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? Getting a shut-off notice from a utility is also sufficient to claim a hardship exemption. Tax experts say the best it can do is withhold the penalty amount from any tax refund due. PROSECUTOR: Did you hear the charges? Sooner or later an administration neuters itself from sheer implausibility. Nicolae Ceauescu (Romanian pronunciation: [nikola.e ta.uesku]; 26 January 1918 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the Secretary Gener. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No one recognizes that. The crowd, now totaling up to 80,000, were given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. You held monologues and the people had to applaud, like in the rituals of tribal people. Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban Grandiose plans are announced, pivots are ordered, Red Lines are drawn, all manner of schemes are announced with a maximum of hoopla but everybody ignores it they know the latest fad will pass and the regime will Move On. Ceauescu answers: As I said before, the people are fighting for their freedom and against this putsch, against this usurpation. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. No one was shot. Earlier, joyful crowds had paraded through the city after reports that Mr Ceauescu had been arrested after trying to flee from the roof of the party headquarters by helicopter. You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to. All their property will be impounded. The great Ceauescu escape attempt came after it had become clear that most of the army had gone over to the people. This page was last edited on 8 October 2016, at 23:48. Ceausescu claims that the putsch was organized from abroad. This demonstrates their lack of understanding. After an outage of transmission of Romanian television, the speaker announces the verdict in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu is death sentence. Frederich Hayek identified the primary reason why tyrants fall: they rely on the poisoned cup of centralized knowledge. The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. CEAUSESCU: She was not a deputy prime minister, but the first deputy prime minister. The counsel for the defense now takes the floor and instructs the Ceausescus once again that they have the right to defense and that they should accept this right. CEAUSESCU: You as officers should know that the government cannot give the order to shoot. And today you are acting in the same megalomaniac way. I ask the chairman of the prosecutor's office to read the bill of indictment. A later article shows that Australia is moving toward purchasing Japanese submarines to replace its existing fleet. Ceausescu refused to answer. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceauescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. As the other primary sources reveal, the Ceausescus were tried a few days later and executed as enemies of the new Romanian state. Judecator Gica POPA. Now we are making a last attempt. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. In addition, the law forbids the IRS from using its normal enforcement tools to collect unpaid penalties. He also refuses to recognize the new forum. I told you right at the beginning that I will not answer a single question. It must be cleared up whether Ceauescu wants to, should, must or can answer at all. Making use of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, he delivered a litany of the achievements of the "socialist revolution" and Romanian "multi-laterally developed . Elena says: Look, and that they are calling genocide. Rebranding Christianity (The World of Information) By 6 pm, Romanian television was broadcasting live reports of victory rallies attended by thousands in Bucharest. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Incredible. Last modified on Sun 29 Mar 2020 07.01 EDT President Nicolae Ceauescu was overthrown yesterday and became a fugitive in the country he has ruled for 24 years as remnants of his personal troops. PROSECUTOR: Who ordered shooting into the crowd? VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ For the first time that anybody could remember, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu was interrupted at a public speech by boos and jeers that began a huge demonstration against him in Bucharest Thursday. But we are not talking about people. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. The workers were augmented by bystanders who were rounded up on Calea Victoriei. It can go on for a long time shedding parts, but eventually the axle falls out. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I repeat: I am the president of Romania and the commander in chief of the Romanian army. Nobody is likely to rise up and become a Man on Horseback. Not a single shot was fired in Palace Square. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not answer this question. At the moment the situation is rather uncertain. As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. And Elena says: It is incredible what they are inventing, incredible. Another question to Ceausescu: Who ordered the bloodbath in Timisoara. They are not only accused of offenses committed during the past few days, but of offenses committed during the past 25 years. I will only speak at the Grand National Assembly. A voice in the studio said that the army was wholly on the side of the people. In the wake of growing tension over an uprising in Timioara in which thousands were reportedly killed, Ceauescu decided to give a nationally televised speech before a crowd in Palace Square (now known as Revolution Square) in Bucharest. Since the old government has been dissolved and Ceauescu has lost his functions, he no longer has the right to be treated as the president. I hope that you do not also work for the foreigners and for the destruction of Romania. PROSECUTOR: In the same way he refused to hold a dialogue with the people, now he also refuses to speak with us. Description One of the most decisive moments in the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was Ceausescu's December 21st speech (or lack thereof). The Securitate had hidden food reserves on which Bucharest could have survived for months, the whole of Bucharest. PROSECUTOR: Children cannot even buy plain candy, and you are living in the palaces of the people. He always claimed to act and speak on behalf of the people, to be a beloved son of the people, but he only tyrannized the people all the time. Ceausescu answers: As I said before, the people are fighting for their freedom and against this putsch, against this usurpation. No one was shot. Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu should be punished in a really legal trial. How can one say something like this? I will not speak with you provocateurs anymore, and I will not speak with the organizers of the putsch and with the mercenaries. Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality You were not used to talking to the people. Nobody has the right to abolish the Grand National Assembly. Now you know what members of our U.S. military are thinking and saying. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway Usurpers have been punished severely during the past centuries in Romania's history. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No, we will not sign. It was one of the most pivotal moments in the Romanian Revolution of 1989. In the footage, Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu can be seen delivering a speech from the balcony of the Central Committee building overlooking Palace Square, now know as "Revolution Square," where he praised the achievements of Romania's socialist regime and its "multi-laterally developed socialist society." From Wikipedia: NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize this court. In 1947, we assumed power, but under completely different circumstances. But by then there was nowhere to hide. Ceausescu relates his recent meeting with Dubcek in Prague in August 1968. . UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. President, I would like to know something: The accused should tell us who the mercenaries are. You were not used to talking to the people. The entire intelligentsia of the country ran away. The prosecutor asks the counsel for the defense to ask Ceausescu whether he knows that he is no longer president of the country, that Elena Ceausescu has also lost all her official state functions and that the government has been dissolved. The prosecutor says: The world already knows what has happened here. Tip Jar or Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the Belmont Club, George Ciampa, an 89-year old D-Day veteran, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obamas Impeachment, Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban, Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality, The Idiot Vote: The Democrats Core Constituency, Rebranding Christianity (The World of Information), The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli, How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument, The FBI Targeted Patriotic Conservatives Exercising Their First Amendment Rights: Theyre All Bleeping Terrorists, Watch: Russell Brand OBLITERATES MSNBC in Hack's Face on 'Real Time With Bill Maher', New York Times Discovers a New Source of Racism, and This One Could Be the Most Ridiculous Yet, Young Man Does His Own Taxes for First Time, Rage and Mirth Ensue, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. , the former US ambassador to Syria, has effectively accused the Obama administration of abandoning genuinely pro-American rebels in Syria thereby allowing the ascendance of al-Qaeda. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. He would be executed a few days later. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. At the beginning, Ceausescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. A little noticed article in the, notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government. We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws. Immediately before them were plainclothes Securitate agents and a row of police militia, who kept the mass of the crowd about thirty meters back from the front of the Central Committee building. Nicolae Ceausescu delivers his last public speech in Bucharest on December 21, 1989. Paper is patient. Its just that he makes it so hard to do so.. You cannot talk to me in such a way! Two: Armed attack on the people and the state power, in accordance with Article 163 of the penal code. The front rows of the assembly were made up of low-level Communist Party officials and members who acted as cheer-leaders. What may happen of course, is that like a frog slowly being boiled in a pot, the process happens so slowly that people arent aware of it themselves. PROSECUTOR: So you know the new forum. We have sufficient data on this period. This is not possible. This gang will be destroyed. The English translation is by the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. PROSECUTOR: You have never been able to hold a dialogue with the people. CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Esteemed chairman of the court, today we have to pass a verdict on the defendants Nicolae Ceausescu and Elena Ceausescu who have committed the following offenses: Crimes against the people. This occurs when the official line becomes so ridiculous that ordinary people dont even realize they are falling out of step with the Party Line. Every honest citizen who worked hard here until 22 December knows that we do not have medicines, that you two have killed children and other people in this way, that there is nothing to eat, no heating, no electricity. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara? And Elena says: It is incredible what they are inventing, incredible. He was Secre. Ceauescu was finally cornered in a small town, where he and his wife were subjected to a summary trial, taken out to the courtyard and shot. Who are these fanatics? NICOLAE CEAUESCU: She was not a deputy prime minister, but the first deputy prime minister. All the world should know what is going on here. The History: Last Speech, Trial and Execution Decades of brutal oppression under the Ceausescu regime came to a head in Timisoara, earlier that same December. I will only speak in front of it. Everybody should be paid according to his performance. Eight minutes into the speech, some in the crowd actually began to jeer, boo and whistle at hima reaction considered unthinkable for most of Ceauescus 24 years in power.