No Due Process: Legal Issues in the Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu
Transcript of the Closed Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (1989)
The prosecution and trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu on 25 December 1989 are widely regarded as illegal under both Romanian law of the time and international standards of due process. The trial was conducted by a military tribunal hastily assembled during the violent final days of the Romanian Revolution, with no constitutional mandate and no legal jurisdiction over civilians without formal authorization. The defendants were denied the most basic rights guaranteed even under socialist law: the right to a defense, the right to review evidence, the right to call witnesses, and the right to appeal. Their “defense lawyers” openly sided with the prosecution, violating the principle of independent legal representation.
The proceedings lacked impartiality, transparency, and judicial independence. The verdict—death by firing squad—was predetermined, as evidenced by the rapid transition from indictment to execution, all within less than an hour. No verified evidence of the charges, including genocide and foreign bank accounts, was presented. International law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Romania was a party), prohibits trials that do not allow adequate time and facilities for defense.
In essence, the trial was a summary execution disguised as legal procedure, driven by revolutionary urgency rather than lawful justice, making it one of modern Europe’s most infamous miscarriages of due process.
Military Base Târgoviște — December 25th, 1989 (They were tried in a garrison because the army had seized them during the Romanian Revolution.)
Prosecutor: Gică Popa
Accused/Defendants: Nicolae Ceaușescu —General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, President of Romania, and Elena Ceaușescu — Deputy Prime Minister, First Lady. The trial lasted approximately 55 minutes from start to verdict. Ceaușescu was executed immediately after the verdict outside the same building. Ceaușescu shouted, “Long live free Romania!” Elena shouted, “Don’t shoot! I’m not guilty!”
Defence Counsel: Two court-appointed lawyers
Setting of the Trial: December 25, 1989, in a military base in Târgoviște, Romania, an extraordinary military tribunal created during the Romanian Revolution for a closed trial (no public audience, only televised excerpts)
Trial Proceedings
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU
“I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. I will only speak in front of it.”
Initial Charges
PROSECUTOR
He refused dialogue with the people, and now also refuses to speak with us. Claiming always to act for the people, he tyrannized them.
You are charged with:
- Holding sumptuous celebrations
- Procuring luxury food and clothing from abroad
- Robbing the Romanian people while they received only 200 grams of food per day
- Living as “worse than the king”
I request the Chief Prosecutor to read the bill of indictment.
Bill of Indictment
CHIEF PROSECUTOR
The defendants Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu are charged with:
- Genocide (Article 356)
- Armed attack against the people and state power (Article 163)
- Destruction of buildings and institutions; undermining the national economy (Articles 165 and 145)
- Obstructing the economy
“Because of the crimes committed against the people, I plead for the death sentence.”
Ceaușescu’s Refusal
PROSECUTOR
Did you hear and understand the charges?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU
“I do not answer… I do not recognize this court.”
PROSECUTOR
Note: He refuses to recognize the indictment.
COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE (asking formally)
Do you know you are no longer the President?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU
“I am the President of Romania and Commander in Chief. No one can deprive me of these functions.”
PROSECUTOR
But not of our army.
Final Statement of the Prosecutor
PROSECUTOR: They refuse to admit any of the crimes they committed over 25 years: Genocide in Timișoara and Bucharest, Tyranny and deprivation, Killing children and adults, Dressing Securitate agents in military uniforms, Cutting oxygen in hospitals, Hoarding food reserves
He states: “I would oppose the death penalty—but we are not talking about people.”
The Ceaușescus laugh when he suggests they could have stayed in Iran.
Verdict of the Military Tribunal: After a brief transmission interruption, Romanian television announces: Both Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu are sentenced to death. All property is to be impounded.
Source: English translation by the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE CLOSED TRIAL — 25 DECEMBER 1989
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. I will only speak in front of it.
PROSECUTOR GICA POPA:
In the same way he refused to hold a dialogue with the people, now he also refuses to speak with us when we want to investigate what actually occurred in the country.
You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations, while the people were agonizing. These two defendants procured the most luxurious foodstuffs and clothes money could buy, while the entire people were starving; we had to stand in line while they had the best living conditions.
The people only received 200 grams per day, while these two defendants had spirited away an entire train of foodstuffs for their personal use.
These two defendants have robbed the people, and we have the gravest charges against them.
CHIEF PROSECUTOR:
Today we have to pass a verdict.
Firstly, you are charged with having organized armed action against the people and the power of the state.
We have to answer this question: Has the defendant Ceaușescu organized armed resistance?
The defendant Ceaușescu and his wife have undermined state power by organizing armed resistance and by trying to bring about civil war in this country.
We consider that the following crimes against the state have also been perpetrated: genocide—in over 400 localities, over 60,000 people have been killed; destruction of public property, sabotage of the national economy; trying to flee the country based on huge sums of money deposited in foreign banks.
The findings of the investigating judge for the following crimes are as follows: Under Article 163 of the Criminal Code, the punishment for this is death; capital punishment is also provided for under Article 165 and Article 145; under Article 356, the punishment is life imprisonment; under Articles 357 and 358, the punishment for genocide is death.
I plead, therefore, for a sentence according to the criminals’ deeds: death and the impounding of the entire property of the two defendants; their bank accounts have already been frozen, and these accounts are to be impounded.
Defendant Ceaușescu, did you hear the charges? Have you understood them?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I do not answer; I do not recognize this court.
PROSECUTOR:
This situation is known, the catastrophic situation of the country is known, a criminal tyranny did not come about by itself; the entire country knows who is guilty; these two have shown to the entire world the real countenance of political megalomania, making a cult out of the leader. They never answered any questions, never held a dialogue with the people.
You two have killed children.
Another question: Who ordered the bloodbath in Timișoara?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I do not answer.
PROSECUTOR:
Who ordered shooting into the crowd? Children, students, young people, and working people have been murdered.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU: (to Nicolae)
Forget about them.
PROSECUTOR:
Fanatics, whom you are paying. It is said that you are sending payments abroad.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
Not a single shot was fired in Palace Square.
PROSECUTOR:
By now, there have been 34 casualties.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
Look, and that they are calling genocide.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:
No one wanted to do anything for you anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:
Who are the mercenaries? Who pays them?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I will not say anything more.
PROSECUTOR: (to Nicolae)
He is being asked whether he wanted to fool the people by saying that he would fight to the last drop of his blood.
PROSECUTOR: (about Elena)
She is not even able to read correctly, because she has not learned anything.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
The intellectuals of the country should hear you.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I only recognize the working class and the Grand National Assembly.
PROSECUTOR:
The Grand National Assembly has been dissolved.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
No one can dissolve the National Assembly.
PROSECUTOR:
This court puts an end to the work of the two defendants. This is a legal court of the people.
We now have another leading organ—the National Salvation Front.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
This gang will be destroyed. They organized the putsch.
PROSECUTOR:
Ceaușescu is denying the legitimacy of this court. He still believes he is the president.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I do not recognize this court.
PROSECUTOR:
The trial will now proceed.
Ceaușescu, yes or no, did you order the genocide?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I will not answer this question.
DEFENSE COUNSEL:
Did you know that you also held the post of Commander in Chief of the Army?
Mr. Ceaușescu, Elena Ceaușescu, are you aware of the fact that you no longer held any power in this country, that you no longer held any office?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I am still the President of Romania and the Commander-in-Chief of the Romanian Army.
I do not answer. I refuse to answer any questions. I will only answer to the Grand National Assembly.
PROSECUTOR:
Why did you starve the people?
Why did you make the people starve?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I guaranteed every peasant 200 kilograms of wheat per year.
PROSECUTOR:
Why do peasants then have to buy their bread in Bucharest?
Is this why you have deposited one billion dollars abroad?
We have been starving because of you, while you had everything you wanted.
We saw your villa in Snagov, that luxurious residence, everything was of the highest quality, your clothes, your food, your porcelain, your plates from gold—why?
While many people who held important positions received 200 lei a month, only a few dollars?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
We live in a normal apartment.
PROSECUTOR:
Let us now talk about the accounts in Switzerland. Did you or did you not have accounts in Switzerland?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
Where are these funds? Why are you asking us nonexistent things?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
We had no account in Switzerland.
PROSECUTOR:
Why do you refuse to sign this statement which would clear this matter once and for all?
You refuse to sign this statement now?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
Give us the proof of these accounts.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
Furnish proof of these accounts. This is a provocation, a provocation.
PROSECUTOR:
We only want to know whether you will sign this statement.
Mr. Ceaușescu, Mrs. Ceaușescu, all we want to know is whether you will sign this statement that these accounts should be transferred to the Romanian state bank.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
This is a vulgar provocation. Everything which could be taken from us has been confiscated.
PROSECUTOR:
This is another case. You have not acknowledged that these amounts have been deposited in Switzerland.
Please note: The defendant refuses to sign this statement.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
You have never been honest. And the lawyer is shamefully dishonest.
PROSECUTOR:
Mr. Ceaușescu, who were your collaborators?
Who were the people with whom you worked?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:
Answer the question.
DEFENSE:
Your own people were against you.
(Austrian TV commentary section omitted as in original transcript)
PROSECUTOR:
We now pass to the genocide in Timișoara.
Did you know about the genocide in Timișoara?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
What genocide?
PROSECUTOR:
And who wrote your scientific papers? You or someone else?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
I am a member and chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences; I am a doctor and have written many scientific papers.
PROSECUTOR:
What about the typewriter?
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
They were special editions.
PROSECUTOR:
But all your collaborators told us that you had not written a single line yourself.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
This is a lie. Since I am the main collaborator of the president, they must have said: “We had better say something else.”
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I do not recognize this court.
PROSECUTOR:
Would you like me to talk to you about psychiatric problems?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
What an obscene provocation.
PROSECUTOR:
This would serve your defense. You want to defend yourself, don’t you?
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
I do not recognize this court. You can do whatever you want.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
You can tell us whatever you want. Carry out the orders you have received.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
We brought agriculture up to that level; we increased agricultural production; we guaranteed a decent standard of living for every family; we also were concerned about the health of the people.
In all, Ceaușescu shouted at the judges seven times that he was the President.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
We have sacrificed our lives for the people.
DEFENSE COUNSEL (to Ceaușescu):
We have enough documents and testimonies; we only want to defend you. In my opinion it is very important to clarify this. This is a legal trial, Mr. Ceaușescu, and a verdict has to be reached; Mr. Ceaușescu, a verdict has to be reached according to the law. You can’t undermine the authority of the court; this is a mistake of which even you should be aware; and we have achieved the overwhelming triumph of the revolution, and this whole triumph must not be besmirched.
This must be a political trial, a real political trial, and the people of Romania want to know what happened and why it happened.
You acted irresponsibly and ruined the entire country. The people want to know what you did.
We must not allow the slightest impression of illegality…
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
This is illegal.
PROSECUTOR (Final Statement):
Your honor, I plead for the death sentence for these two criminals. They tyrannized the soul of the Romanian people; terrible crimes of horrifying proportions have been committed; they were found guilty by the members of the National Salvation Front.
We have come to talk about what you wrote in your vile book: the people had to work, cotton was grown, rice was grown, tomatoes and other vegetables had to be grown.
You cut off oxygen in hospitals; this I call genocide.
We have facts that on Ceaușescu’s orders soldiers were sent abroad for specialized training.
In closing, I would like to add that I would rather defend the two Ceaușescus, even defend them when they are facing death. But I am forced to state the truth.
I normally oppose the death penalty on principle, but I could never take the defense in the case of those who are accused here; we are not talking about people, who have moved the entire machinery of repression; we must save the people from the clutches of these madmen; they have no right to astonish us today with their cynicism and unanswered questions.
Allow me to say that we should give immediate answers, because all these acts of terrorism are still continuing. I plead for capital punishment.
ELENA CEAUȘESCU:
Don’t tell me that this is terrorism. We do not stay abroad. This is our home; we have never harmed anybody. This has always been our home.
NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU:
You have always managed before.
I do not recognize this court and I will not answer any questions.
VERDICT:
Death sentence.
Confiscation of all property.
Execution to be carried out immediately.
