Chamber passes bill granting monthly allowance to politically persecuted group

Romania's Chamber of Deputies passed on Tuesday a bill granting rights to persons persecuted for political reasons since June 2, 1992 and who were convicted on December 9, 1993 by an unrecognised court from Moldova's Transnistria region.

"Qualifying from a monthly allowance provided for in Article 4 (1) of Decree Law 118/1990 on granting rights to persons persecuted for political reasons by dictatorship established since March 6, 1945, as well as those deported abroad or taken prisoners, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented, and persons, Romanian nationals at the date of filing the application, who were persecuted for political reasons since June 2, 1992 and who were convicted on December 9, 1993 by an unrecognised court from Moldova's Transnistria region," reads the bill initiated by national leader of the People's Movement Party (PMP) Eugen Tomac.

The persons included in the bill, who are domiciled abroad, may submit the application in person to the county payment and social inspection agencies or by proxy appointed by special power of attorney to the local agency under whose territorial cover the proxy resides.

"A difficult moment for freedom and democracy was December 9, 1993, when an illegitimate tribunal of the Tiraspol separatist regime, unrecognised internationally, unjustly accused and convicted, without the right to appeal, a group of patriots from Moldova - Ilie Ilascu, Andrei Ivantoc, Tudor Petrov-Popa and Alexandru Lesco known as the Ilascu group (...) The historic truth about the actions and events in which the Ilascu group was involved is already settled as reflected by documents of authorities of Romania and the US, of institutions of the European Union, of the Council of Europe, etc. Romania, however, has not yet been able to express its gratitude to these Romanian citizens. Therefore, a legislative initiative is required to make both a moral and a pecuniary reparation to the Ilascu group, as the Romanian Parliament has already legislated its gratitude to the other heroes of the fight against communism," Tomac says in a statement of reasons for the bill.

The bill cleared the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this case, in a 279 to 18 abstentions vote.