The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania (Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului în România) is a government-sponsored organization

Organization

An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...

 whose mission is to investigate the crimes and abuses conducted while Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 was under communist rule

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 prior to December 1989. Following the Romanian Revolution of 1989

Romanian Revolution of 1989

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...

, Romania’s government was overthrown and a democratic president was elected in May 1990.

The main objectives of the Institute are the gathering of data, documents and testimonies regarding all oppressive actions exerted by the system, and notifying the state’s criminal investigation departments. In addition, the Institute informs the public of the crimes, abuses and instigations to crime, conducted in the name of ‘class struggle’ by the powerful people within the communist system. The Institute is led by Marius Oprea

Marius Oprea

Marius Oprea is a Romanian historian , poet and essayist.He studied history at the University of Bucharest, and earned a Ph.D. with a thesis on the role and evolution of the Communist-era secret police, the Securitate between 1948 and 1964...

, president, a University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

 graduate with a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 who is an archeologist and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

.

The institute is a member organisation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience

Platform of European Memory and Conscience

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an educational project of the European Union bringing together government institutions and organisations from EU countries active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of totalitarian regimes...

.

Recent News

Up to one million people were killed or persecuted by communist authorities in Romania, according to a 2006 report presented to Romanian President Traian Băsescu

Traian Basescu

Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...

.

In December 2009, France 24

France 24

France 24 is an international news and current affairs television channel. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC World News, DW-TV, NHK World and RT, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. During 2010 the channel started broadcasting through...

, the French-based news agency, reported on the Institute’s progress in documenting the communist crimes in Romania, including finding the buried remains of some of the many thousands of people alleged to have been murdered.

International partners

The Institute has cooperation agreements with the Institute of National Remembrance

Institute of National Remembrance

Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...

 and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

, government agencies of Poland and the Czech Republic respectively tasked with the investigation of Nazi and Communist crimes.