European Union, here they come (BBC News)

Culture in Romania and Bulgaria

By Michael Osborn
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
Last Updated: Sunday, 31 December 2006, 09:00 GMT

On 1 January 2007, Romania and Bulgaria become the latest countries to join the European Union.

The two nations in south-eastern Europe are relatively unknown in the rest of Europe in terms of their popular culture, including music and television.

Here is a sample of what the average Romanian and Bulgarian settles down to watch on the small screen, and which pop stars are making the biggest splash as the neighbouring countries enter the European club.

BULGARIAN POP MUSIC

In market places, cafes, shops and bars across Bulgaria, it's likely that chalga music will be blaring out of the stereo.

This vibrant, heady mixture of traditional Balkan folk music with Roma (gypsy), Turkish and Arab influences is highly popular.

But it is sometimes frowned upon for its scantily-clad female singers and appeal to "low class people".

"I rather like it. At least it's Bulgarian," says Magdalena Rahn of the Sofia Echo newspaper.

"The rhythms are catchy and the voices incredible. I would prefer Azis to Western pop music being played here," she adds.

Flamboyant, cross-dressing male vocalist Azis is one of the most recognised faces in Bulgaria.

A leading exponent of chalga, he represented his country alongside pop star Mariana Popova at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Western music has been widely embraced by Bulgarian artists and regularly dominates the country's charts, alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Gwen Stefani.

Bulgaria's best-known rap duo Rumaneca and Enchev are currently riding high in the hit parade along with male singer Grafa (The Count) - deemed "not particularly Bulgarian" by Ms Rahn.

The country's rock scene thrives thanks to bands lik Epizod, who have turned traditional Bulgarian songs into rock anthems.

The group have performed clad in armour with the backing of a church choir and folk dancers.

ROMANIAN POP MUSIC

Romania's most recent musical phenomenon is Cleopatra Stratan.

Aged just three, this diminutive talent dominated the charts recently with her song Ghita and has already recorded an album.

The daughter of singer Pavel Stratan is said to have been discovered when she performed at his recording sessions.

Acts who have been in the business rather longer include rock band Voltaj, who formed in 1982 under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.

Once considered a "danger to society", they did not record their first album until 1995 and won best Romanian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards a decade later.

Rockers Holograf - currently in the Romanian Top 10 with Voltaj - started life in 1978.

Popular names on the Romanian dance scene include DJ Project - best Romanian Act at this year's MTV Europe Awards - and Akcent and Morandi.

Prolific songwriter and performer Marius Moga has penned numerous hits for these acts, earning himself the title "Little Mozart".

As in Bulgaria, Romania's acts have to battle hard against songs from the US and UK which often dominate the country's Top 10.

BULGARIAN TELEVISION

One of Bulgaria's most popular TV programmes is a late-night daily talk show hosted by Slavi Trifonov, one of the most popular figures in the country.

The show's makers claim its hour-long mix of guests, political satire and musical performances is "unique in Eastern Europe".

Other small-screen draws in Bulgaria include localised versions of such familiar TV programmes as Big Brother, currently in its third series, and Survivor BG.

The country has also spawned its own derivative of Deal Or No Deal - known as Sdelka Ili Ne in Bulgaria - which offers a top prize of 100,000 Leva (£34,620).

ROMANIAN TELEVISION

Romanian TV has come a long way since the dark days of the Ceausescu era.

Back then, all viewers had to look forward to was two hours of black-and-white programming extolling the dictator's virtues.

The country now has 10 commercial stations to complement the three channels offered by state television.

A set of familiar entertainment programmes are "watched by the whole nation", says Radio Romania International's Iulian Muresan.

Probably the most popular, he continues, is Surprize Surprize - similar to the show hosted by Cillia Black in the UK from 1984-99.

Its tearful reunions are interspersed with regular appearances by bebelusele - female dancing girls - which are a common feature on numerous Romanian TV programmes.

Other highly-rated shows include Iarta-ma (Forgive Me), where old scores are settled and one-time adversaries start afresh in front of a studio audience, and Dansez Pentru Tine, based on competitive dance shows seen around the world.

The country's most popular comedy show is Cronica Carcotasilor (The Fault Finder's Chronicle), which takes an irreverent look at Romania's political leaders, prominent people in the media and famous faces.

This programme also has a coterie of female dancers who perform between sketches.

The Revolution revisited (part IV)

Cele 21 de crime ale comunismului

19 Decembrie 2006
Anca Simina
Evenimentul Zilei

Raportul Comisiei "Tismaneanu" inventariaza principalele actiuni criminale savarsite in cei 45 de ani de dictatura rosie.

Dictatura comunista din Romania anilor 1945-1989 s-a facut vinovata de crime imprescriptibile impotriva umanitatii, concluzioneaza Raportul final al Comisiei „Tismaneanu”.

Studierea a mii de documente de arhiva, a literaturii analitice, dar si a marturiilor celor implicati in evenimente justifica, sustin membrii comisiei prezidentiale in finalul raportului lor, condamnarea regimului „ilegitim si criminal”, „un sistem totalitar de la infiintare si pana la prabusire, bazat pe incalcarea constanta a drepturilor omului”.

Raportul, asumat de toti membrii si de expertii comisiei, certifica ideea continuitatii intre era Dej si era Ceausescu. „Toate institutiile statului totalitar au fost create in timpul epocii Dej. Nicolae Ceausescu si grupul de aparatcici care l-a sustinut le-au perfectionat si le-au dus la cele mai dezastruoase consecinte”, se arata in concluzii. Din acest motiv, nomenclaturistii ambelor perioade impart responsabilitatea actiunilor lor cu sefii spionajului si ai Securitatii, cu stalpii aparatului ideologic, chiar cu promotorii cultului personalitatii lui Nicolae si a Elenei Ceausescu.

Sintagme cunoscute inainte de 1989 primesc in raport definitii reale. Departe de a mai reprezenta un ideal, „societatea socialista multilateral dezvoltata” devine doar „numele unui sistem politic si economic inghetat, dominat de un lider faraonic si de anturajul sau imediat”.

Criticat de o parte dintre liderii politici de astazi, raportul ofera ca argumente ale indelung amanatei condamnari a comunismului in Romania principalele actiuni criminale atribuite fostului regim:

1. Abandonarea intereselor nationale prin servilism in relatiile cu URSS dupa 1945;

2. Anihilarea statului de drept si a pluralismului prin inscenari si fraude, mai ales dupa furtul alegerilor in noiembrie 1946;

3. Distrugerea partidelor politice, prin arestarea liderilor si a militantilor;

4. Impunerea unui regim dictatorial total infeudat Moscovei si ostil valorilor politice si culturale nationale, lichidarea sindicatelor libere, distrugerea social-democratiei ca miscare politica opusa bolsevismului PCR;

5. Sovietizarea totala, prin forta, a Romaniei, mai ales in perioda 1948-1956, si impunerea unui sistem politic despotic, condus de o casta profitoare (nomenclatura), strans unita in jurul liderului suprem;

6. Politica de exterminism social (lichidarea fizica, prin asasinat, deportare, intemnitare, munca fortata, a unor categorii sociale - burghezie, mosierime, tarani, intelectuali, studenti) ghidata de preceptul luptei de clasa a facut intre 500.000 si doua milioane de victime;
7. Persecutia minoritatilor etnice, religioase, culturale ori de orientare sexuala;

8. Exterminarea programata a detinutilor politici;

9. Exterminarea grupurilor de partizani care reprezentau rezistenta anticomunista armata in munti (1945-1962);

10. Represiunea impotriva cultelor, desfiintarea Bisericii Greco-Catolice;

11. Arestarea, uciderea, detentia politica sau deportarea taranilor oponenti colectivizarii, lichidarea violenta a revoltelor taranesti (1949-1962);

12. Deportarile cu scop de exterminare, represiunile etnice, gonirea si „vanzarea” evreilor si germanilor;

13. Represiunea impotriva culturii, cenzura extrema, arestarea si umilirea intelectualilor neinregimentati ori protestatari (1945-1989);

14. Reprimarea miscarilor si actiunilor studentesti din 1956;

15. Reprimarea miscarilor muncitoresti din Valea Jiului (1977), Brasov (1987) si a celorlalte greve din anii ‘80;

16. Reprimarea oponentilor si disidentilor in anii ‘70 si ‘80 (omorarea inginerului Gheorghe Ursu, condamnarea la moarte a lui Mircea Raceanu, Ion Mihai Pacepa, Liviu Turcu, Constantin Rauta);

17. Distrugerea patrimoniului istoric si cultural prin daramarile din anii ‘80 (un sfert din centrul istoric al Bucu-restiului), constrangerea unei parti a populatiei de a-si parasi locuintele;

18. Consecintele criminale ale „politicii demografice” (1966-1989);

19. Impunerea unor norme aberante privitoare la „alimentatia rationala”; infometarea populatiei, oprirea caldurii, starea de mizerie la care regimul a condamnat un intreg popor;

20. Conceptualizarea mizeriei materiale si morale, precum si a fricii, ca instrumente de mentinere a puterii comuniste;

21. Masacrarea cetatenilor, din ordinul lui N. Ceausescu, cu aprobarea conducerii PCR, in timpul Revolutiei din 1989.

Lista

Personaje in Raportul „Tismaneanu”

Prima generatie de comunisti:

Gheorghiu-Dej, Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca, Gheorghe Apostol, Iosif Chisinevschi, Alexandru Moghioros, Petre Borila, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Chivu Stoica, Miron Constantinescu, Leonte Rautu, Dumitru Coliu, Leontin Salajan
Demnitari vinovati de „impunerea si perpetuarea unui sistem bazat pe crima si faradelege”:

Gheorghe Radulescu, Grigore Preoteasa, Mihai Dalea, Janos Fazekas, Stefan Voitec, Manea Manescu, Florian Danalache, Ion Ionita, Constantin Dascalescu, Ilie Verdet, Elena Ceausescu, Ion Dinca, Dumitru Popescu, Suzana Gadea, Ion Iliescu, Stefan Barlea

Demnitari ai aparatului represiv:

Teohari Georgescu, Vladimir Mazuru, Marian Jianu, Alexandru Draghici, Ladislau Ady, Aurel Stancu, Vasile Negrea, Ion Vinte, Grigore Raduica, Ionel Gal, Cornel Onescu, Ion Stanescu, Gheorghe Homostean, Teodor Coman, Emil Bobu, Tudor Postelnicu, Iulian Vlad.

Sefii spionajului:

Emil Bodnaras, Pintilie Bodnarenko (Pantiusa), Alexandru Nicolschi (Grunberg), Mihai Gavriliuc, Wilhem Einhorn, Nicolae Doicaru, Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romus Dima, Nicolae Plesita, Aristotel Stamatoiu
Ideologi:

Iosif Chisinevschi, Mihail Roller, Leonte Rautu, Nicolae Goldberger, Ofelia Manole, Pavel Tugui, Virgil Florea, Paul Niculescu-Mizil, Vasile Dinu, Elvira Cinca, Elena Bescu, Eduard Mezincescu, Constanta Craciun, Nicolae Moraru, Traian Selmaru, Mihai Beniuc, Ion Rosianu, Pompiliu Macovei, Ion Iliescu

Ziaristi:

Sorin Toma, Dumitru Popescu, Teodor Marinescu, Alexandru Ionescu, Constantin Mitea, Nicolae Dragos, Silviu Brucan, Nestor Ignat, N. Corbu, Ion Cumpanasu, Dumitru Tinu, Anghel Paraschiv, Gheorghe Badrus, Valter Roman, Dumitru Ghise, Leonte Tismaneanu (Tisminetki), Grigore Preoteasa, Nicolae Bellu (Schor), Octavian Paler, Maria Costache;

Conducatorii aparatului ideologic in perioada Ceausescu: Paul Niculescu-Mizil, Leonte Rautu, Dumitru Popescu, Ion Iliescu, Cornel Burtica, Miu Dobrescu, Tamara Dobrin, Petru Enache, Mihai Dulea, Ion Traian Stefanescu, Eugen Florescu;

Exponenti ai protocronismului: Paul Anghel, Eugen Barbu, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Doru Popovici, Dan Zamfirescu, Ilie Badescu, Ion Lancranjan, Pompiliu Marcea, Ion Dodu Balan, Dinu Sararu, Adrian Paunescu, Mihai Ungheanu, Nicolae Dan Fruntelata, Artur Silvestri, Ilie Purcaru, Ghizela Vass (bunica lui Bogdan Olteanu).

Disidenti in perioada regimului comunist:

Dorin Tudoran, Radu Filipescu, Vlad Georgescu, Doina Cornea, Cs. Gymesi Eva, Gabriel Andreescu, Mihai Botez, Mariana Celac, Petre Mihai Bacanu, Anton Uncu, Mihai Creanga, Stefan Niculescu-Maier, Alexandru Chivoiu, Dumitru Iuga, Ionel Cana, Gheorghe Brasoveanu, Carmen Popescu, Nicolae Litoiu, Ion Draghici, Ion Bugan, Geza Szocs, William Totok, Herta Muller, Richard Wagner, Helmuth Frauendorfer, Ion Puiu, Iulius Filip, Victor Frunza, Aurel Dragos Munteanu, Vasile Gogea, Molnar Gusztav, Barabas Francisc, Barabas-Marton Piroska, Barabas Janos, Borbely Erno, Buzas Laszlo, Pavel Nicolescu, Dimitrie Ianculovici, Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa, Liviu Babes, Dumitru Mircescu, Gheorghe Fistioc, Viorel Padina, Aurelian Popescu, Silviu Cioata, Dan Petrescu, Liviu Cangeopol, Liviu Antonesei, Ana Blandiana, Mircea Dinescu, Tokes Laszlo, Andrei Plesu, Ion Negoitescu, Ion Vianu, Dumitru Mazilu, Nicu Stancescu, Luca Pitu, Nica Leon.

The Revolution revisited (part III)

"Daca cineva trece, trageti!"

19 Decembrie 2006
Mihail Bumbes, Mihai Burcea
Evenimentul Zilei

La Timisoara, in decembrie 1989, generalul Victor Atanasie Stanculescu a ordonat soldatilor sa traga in multimea care protesta impotriva regimului comunist.

Incorporat in septembrie 1989 ca soldat la regimentul de aviatie de vanatoare de la Timisoara, Alin Ciupala (astazi conf. univ. dr. Facultatea de Istorie - UB), povesteste despre implicarea plutonului din care facea parte in represiunile din decembrie 1989 de la Timisoara.

Batuti in ultimul hal

"Pe 16 decembrie am simtit o tensiune pe care nu ne-o puteam explica, ofiterii nostri erau mai agitati, toate invoirile noastre erau suspendate, dar fara sa ni se dea vreo explicatie. La un moment dat au inceput sa apara zvonuri referitoare la incidente petrecute in Timisoara, fara sa se dea prea multe precizari. Dimineata au inceput sa vina la unitate cadre militare care erau de serviciu in ziua respectiva si care ne spuneau ca, in oras, sunt incidente intre demonstranti si fortele de ordine, militie in primul rand. In jurul pranzului, tin minte ca am fost adunati toti soldatii si toate cadrele militare pe platou si asteptam sa ni se comunice ceva. In momentul acela au aparut doi ofiteri care veneau din oras, batuti in ultimul hal, cu uniformele rupte si care ne-au spus ca cei care iscasera aceste incidente i-au confundat cu militieni, pentru ca uniformele de aviatie erau albastre si semanau cu cele de militie."

Elemente huliganice

"A urmat informarea comandantului, care ne-a anuntat ca, in Timisoara, au loc tulburari provocate de elemente huliganice care devasteaza magazinele si care au creat o situatie tensionata si ca este posibil ca noi sa fim trimisi in oras sa restabilim ordinea. Nu ni s-au dat prea multe amanunte. Spre seara am fost incolonati in doua plutoane, ni s-au repartizat arme si munitie de razboi (fiecare dintre noi aveam 120 de gloante de lupta), echipament de lupta. In acel moment ni s-a spus ca elementele huliganice aflate in slujba unei puteri straine, aluziile erau transparente la Ungaria, perturba linistea orasului si ca vom fi trimisi in oras sa actionam pentru restabilirea ordinii. Numai ca n-am ajuns in oras dintr-odata. Inainte de a ajunge in oras i-am asteptat la aeroportul militar pe cei care au sosit de la Bucuresti, delegatia formata din generalii Guse, Stanculescu si Coman; toti acesti oficiali veniti de la Bucuresti aveau rolul de a coordona actiunile represive de la Timisoara. I-am escortat pana in oras si am ramas la Judeteana de partid, unde se stabilise comandamentul represiunii. Am stat acolo sa-i pazim. Deja centrul unde se afla Judeteana de partid fusese degajat de demonstranti. Era foarte multa armata, inclusiv tancuri".

Ordin de tragere

"Ne-am aliniat in fata unui ofiter in uniforma de general care nu s-a recomandat. Era insa foarte distins, foarte calm, un personaj inalt, slab, cu parul grizonat, pe care aveam sa-l vedem cateva zile mai tarziu la televizor in momentul cand au fost difuzate primele secvente de la procesul Ceausestilor. Era generalul Stanculescu. Acesta ne-a dat urmatorul ordin: sa ocupam o alee care ducea in parc si, daca unii incearca sa treaca parcul si sa se indrepte spre judeteana de partid, sa-i somam, iar daca nu se opresc, sa tragem. Si am ramas in acea zona toata noaptea. In schimb, celalalt pluton a fost trimis in oras, la intoarcere unii dintre ei ne-au povestit modul in care au tras in manifestanti.
Toata cladirea Judetenei de partid era devastata in totalitate. In cursul zilei de sambata demonstrantii reusisera sa intre in Judeteana de partid devastand tot: usi, mobilier, ferestre. In subsolul Judetenei de partid, eu si cu cativa colegi am descoperit restaurantul cu circuit inchis al activistilor de partid. Daca in toata Romania, in decembrie 1989, era o foamete cumplita, am gasit acolo de la compot de ananas si ciocolata chinezeasca pana la pachete cu carne macra, tigari iugoslave, conserve unguresti, portocale. Militarii au furat tot ce se gasea in acel restaurant. Dimineata se refacuse fatada Judetenei de partid, se plantasera inclusiv brazi."

Unde ne sunt mortii

"Toata propaganda aceasta oficiala a regimului a prins, mai mult sau mai putin. Adica toti colegii mei ar fi dorit sa se faca liniste. Acei "huligani" sa fie arestati, totul sa revina la normalitate.

Eu, personal, m-am gandit ca este o revolta cum se intamplase in Brasov, in 1987. Adica ma gandeam ca va fi o revolta de mica amplitudine, ca totul se va rezolva in cateva zile si ca, intr-adevar, de Craciun vom ajunge acasa. Nu ma gandeam sub nicio forma la evenimentele care au urmat.

Trebuie sa spun ca primele lozinci care s-au strigat in Timisoara acelor zile revolutionare nu s-au referit la caderea comunismului, asta o fost o idee care a aparut ceva mai tarziu. Primele lozinci cereau inlaturarea lui Ceausescu: "JOS CEAUSESCU" si "UNDE NE SUNT MORTII", "DA-TI-NE MORTII INAPOI". Asta s-a strigat la Timisoara. Pe data de 20 decembrie am fost retrasi din oras si, odata cu noi, cea mai mare parte a fortelor armate au fost retrase in cazarma. Noi, cei de la aviatie, dupa 20 decembrie, nu am mai fost adusi in oras. In schimb a inceput nebunia cu teroristii."

Teroristi arabi

"In unitate a inceput aceasta psihoza a teroristilor. Unitatea noastra fiind de aviatie, dispunea de radare proprii. Aceste radare au fost cuprinse in noaptea de 21 spre 22 de ceea ce parea sa fie o invazie de elicoptere. Noi am fost scosi afara si toata noaptea am stat sa ne uitam dupa aceste elicoptere care nu au aparut, ceea ce a creat haosul.

Se vorbea de teroristi arabi care beneficiau de un armament ultrasofisticat, niste lucruri aberante astazi.

Dupa executia lui Ceausescu, lucrurile oarecum s-au mai linistit, in sensul ca n-au mai fost incidente, dar totusi psihoza teroristilor continua sa functioneze. Sa va dau un exemplu: intr-o zi am primit la unitate un tir venit din Ungaria cu paine, ca ajutoare, dar nu li s-a dat voie sa descarce painea in unitate.

Au zis: "Daca e otravita?" Si au trimis-o la analiza in oras, paine care s-a intors la noi dupa vreo doua saptamani si care era tare ca piatra, si cu toate astea am mancat-o cu multa pofta."

Marturie

Ancheta

"Dupa evenimentele din 1989 s-a facut o ancheta, o ancheta interna. Au vrut sa vada exact ce s-a intamplat in fiecare unitate, ce a facut fiecare soldat. Fiecare dintre noi a fost intrebat: Cine ne-a dat ordin sa tragem? Cu cine am fost in oras? Unde am stat? Ce am facut? O ancheta foarte amanuntita, dar in acelasi timp destul de discreta. Locotenentul Badale, care a participat direct cu plutonul sau la represiune, a fost trecut in rezerva, in schimb maistrul militar care comanda plutonul nostru a fost avansat la exceptional. Rezultatele acestei anchete trebuie sa fie pe undeva si ar merita sa fie publicate pentru a se vedea exact ce s-a intamplat in decembrie 1989."

The Revolution revisited (part II)

Povestea unui "terorist"

17 Decembrie 2006
Florian Bichir, Lica Manolache
Evenimentul Zilei

Constantin Isac a fost la un pas de a sfarsi ucis de gloantele Armatei romane.

In ziua de 23 decembrie, Isac, participant la Revolutie, a devenit un terorist care trebuia eliminat.

"In intuneric, glontul se vede ca o raza de lumina. Proiectilele treceau prin masina blindata ca printr-o tabla obisnuita." Aceasta e una dintre amintirile lui Constantin Isac, 57 de ani, unul dintre cei care au fost luati la tinta ca fiind teroristi.

Isac este unul dintre revolutionarii prezenti in Piata Universitatii pe 21 decembrie si in grupul care a anuntat caderea regimului comunist, a doua zi, la televiziune.

A facut parte din Consiliul Frontului Salvarii Nationale (CFSN), a luat decizii alaturi de generalii din Armata romana si a fost la un pas sa moara ciuruit de un tanc din fata Ministerului Apararii.

Isac, sef peste USLA

In acele zile, Isac a fost unul dintre oamenii de decizie ai FSN. El a tinut legatura cu trupele USLA (Unitatea Speciala de Lupta Antiterorista). In dupa-amiaza zilei de 23 decembrie a mers la sediul USLA.

"Am ajuns la unitate si m-am recomandat ca reprezentant al CFSN. Le-am spus sa astepte pana vor primi ordin de la CFSN. Apoi am dat o tura prin oras sa vad daca se trage", povesteste Isac.

Dupa tura respectiva a ajuns in cartierul Militari si a cerut telefonic o masina de la USLA ca sa fie dus la Ministerul Apararii, unde se afla Gheorghe Ardelean, seful USLA. "Au venit doua blindate usoare, pline, din care a iesit o persoana: "Eu sunt locotenent-colonel Trosca". M-am urcat intre sofer si Trosca. Deja se lasase intunericul."

Cele doua ABI-uri s-au indreptat catre MApN, unde trebuia sa ajunga Isac. Specialistii USLA trebuiau apoi sa mearga spre complexul Orizont, unde se spunea ca se ascund teroristi si sa-i elimine.

Armata nu a fost cu ei

In fata ministerului a inceput macelul. "Cand am ajuns la MApN ni s-a spus sa ne oprim in fata unui tanc cu luminile stinse. Asta inseamna ca exista comunicare intre USLA si MApN si, de asemenea, cu tancul. Dupa aceea mi s-a transmis sa ma dau jos, sa o iau pe langa tancul din fata si sa intru in minister, iar ei sa-si continue misiunea. Nu am apucat sa mai cobor pentru ca ei au tras o rafala dintr-un blindat din stanga noastra. Au fost raniti luptatorii USLA de pe bancheta din spate. Unul a fost lovit in umar, iar altul in maxilar", povesteste Isac.

In ABI-ul in care se afla Isac s-a reluat legatura cu centrala USLA. "Am comunicat ca se trage si ca avem doi raniti. Ni s-a pus ca vine o Salvare, dar am refuzat pentru ca se anuntase in timpul zilei ca teroristii au ambulante si trag din ele. Am zis sa ne conduca tancul din fata in minister.

Ne-au comunicat ca tancul ne va da trei semnale luminoase dupa care ne va conduce. Am primit semnalele si am facut si noi trei semnale. In loc sa plecam am intrat din nou sub rafala tancului din stanga."

Sub o ploaie de gloante

Tancul tragea in rafele, din stanga, iar pasagerii din cele doua autoblindate nu aveau mari sanse sa scape.

Locotenentul Trosca a iesit din ABI. "S-a ascuns dupa roata din dreapta jos, iar eu m-am culcat intre picioarele lui. Gloantele treceau prin masina si imi sareau schije in picioare. Trosca s-a indreptat apoi catre al doilea vehicul cerand sa intre. Eu am fugit spre parcarea din spate. Am sarit peste un cadavru si peste un gard viu si m-am ascuns intre gard si partea de jos a blocului. Apoi am luat-o prin fata blocului. Afara era bezna. In sclipirile gloantelor m-am orientat catre niste masini parcate. M-am bagat sub o Skoda acoperita cu o prelata", povesteste Constantin Isac.

A petrecut noaptea ascuns sub masina, iar la primele ore ale diminetii s-a indreptat catre un prieten care locuia in zona. Frigul si zapada ii oprisera sangerarile. "Blocul era pazit de o garda de locatari. Nu puteam intra. L-am sunat de la un telefon public si l-am rugat sa coboare sa ma ia. A trebuit sa urc opt etaje, ascunzand ca sunt ranit, dandu-ma drept fratele lui."

A primit ingrijiri la o clinica din apropiere, iar apoi s-a indreptat catre locul unde a fost impuscat.

"Acole era o cu totul alta scena. Cand am plecat era o distanta de circa 30 de metri intre cele doua masini. Acum erau una langa alta, indreptate spre minister si pline de cartuse. Pe caldaram, cadavrele celor din masina, iar oamenii treceau si le scuipau. Cineva a aranjat aceasta scena", crede revolutionarul.

Sapte persoane din cele doua ABI-uri au decedat in noaptea de 23 spre 24 decembrie. Alte patru, printre care si Isac, au scapat cu viata.

Biografie

Arbitru international de judo si inginer

Constantin Isac este arbitru de judo si a participat la numeroase competitii nationale si internationale.
A lucrat ca inginer in cadrul uzinei Republica din Bucuresti. Aici a colaborat cu firme din fosta RFG (Republica Federala Germana). Pentru ca nu era membru de partid i s-a interzis sa plece in Germania pentru scolarizare.
In prezent are o firma care se ocupa de comercializarea si asamblarea de computere. Are doi copii si doi nepoti.

The Revolution revisited (part I)

NOTE: FOLLOWING ARTICLES ARE IN ROMANIAN

Operatiunea KGB, decembrie 1989

17 Decembrie 2006
Florian Bichir, Lica Manolache
Evenimentul Zilei

Conform unor date neoficiale, se estimeaza ca numarul turistilor sovietici care au intrat in Romania in decembrie '89 a fost de cateva mii. Teroristii au fost spaima Revolutiei romane.

Nimeni nu stie inca cine erau acestia: cadre ale Securitatii, agenti KGB, tineri din tarile arabe instruiti in secret in Romania?

Constantin Isac, un bucurestean angajat la uzina Republica, a ajuns in noaptea de 23 spre 24 decembrie terorist. Cel putin pentru Armata romana.

El si membri ai trupelor USLA au fost tinta tancurilor din fata Ministerului Apararii. Isac a reusit sa scape cu viata. Astazi isi aminteste cum a trecut de la bucuria de a inalta steagul Romaniei, in dimineata de 22 decembrie, la groaza din noaptea de 23 spre 24 decembrie, petrecuta sub o masina, cu picioarele ciuruite.

Au fost implicati sovieticii in evenimentele din decembrie 1989? Cu siguranta ca da, din moment ce Petre Roman ii dezvaluia istoricului Alex Mihai Stoenescu faptul ca, satul de actiunile diversioniste, in octombrie 1990 a cerut oficial ambasadorului URSS retragerea agentilor.

"La expunerea clara, concisa a lui Caraman, directorul Centralei de Informatii Externe, am cerut sovieticilor sa-si retraga comandourile. Era vorba despre aproximativ 25.000-30.000 de oameni", spune Roman. "S-au retras ca urmare a faptului ca Gorbaciov modificase strategia si spusese ca URSS nu mai este jandarm in aceasta zona".

Planurile sovieticilor de schimbare a lui Nicolae Ceausescu apar pentru prima data in 1968, cand Romania a condamnat public invazia Cehoslovaciei. Brejnev a cerut in mod expres rasturnarea lui Ceausescu si inlocuirea acestuia cu o persoana loiala Kremlinului, iar serviciile secrete sovietice au pus la cale Operatiunea "Dniester" (Nistru), dar si o violenta campanie de recrutare in Romania.

Conform istoricului Cristian Troncota, specialist in servicii secrete, nici Securitatea romana nu a stat cu mainile incrucisate in fata agresiunii sovietice. Astfel, Unitatea Militara 0920/A a fost transformata in UM 0110, incadrata cu ofiteri si subofiteri tineri si capabili, fiind destinata contrainformatiilor pentru spatiul estic si care va deveni repede faimoasa prin denumirea Unitatea Anti-KGB.

Confruntarea cu sovieticii a fost dura pentru ca, asa cum releva "Punctul de vedere preliminar al SRI, privind evenimentele din decembrie 1989", "Romania era "lucrata" la nivelul unui stat inamic, mod de abordare care s-a pastrat, chiar s-a accentuat, dupa venirea la conducere a lui Mihail Gorbaciov".

Zeci de ofiteri superiori, dar si generali si membri de partid racolati de sovietici au fost marginalizati, inlaturati, Ceausescu ferindu-se totusi sa nu irite prea mult colosul de la Rasarit prin masuri radicale.

Ceausescu a stiut sa contracareze masurile sovietice, bazandu-se si pe rusofobia romanilor, dar misiunea i-a fost usurata si de faptul, destul de usor trecut cu vederea, ca armata sovietica nu se mai afla cantonata in Romania inca din 1958.

Cu tot "nationalismul" si antisovietismul sau, Ceausescu a devenit la sfarsitul anilor ‘80, ca urmare a gravelor sale greseli (cultul personalitatii, infometarea populatiei), un personaj urat chiar de propriul popor. Gorbaciov incepuse sa apara ca o solutie pentru romani, iar perestroika reprezenta salvarea.

"Lovitura e data la Bucuresti prin sabotarea mitingului ceausist"

Conform unor statistici, se estimeaza la cateva mii numarul turistilor sovietici patrunsi in Romania in decembrie ‘89. Imediat dupa incetarea fenomenului terorist-diversionist, acestia au disparut.

Departe de a fi o legenda, mai multi ofiteri de informatii i-au confirmat istoricului Alex Mihai Stoenescu faptul ca, in seara de 3 decembrie 1989, o "sursa directa si sigura", cetatean strain cu acces la informatia primara, a transmis legaturii sale din Securitate ca, la Malta, Bush si Gorbaciov au hotarat inlaturarea lui Ceausescu simultan cu Noriega din Panama.

Ceausescu ar fi primit de la Departamentul Securitatii Statului (DSS) doua note cu caracter ultrasecret, care spuneau, in esenta, acelasi lucru. "In cursul discutiilor de la Malta, secretarul general al PCUS, Mihail Gorbaciov, si presedintele american, George Bush, au hotarat inlaturarea regimului socialist din Romania". Apatic, Ceausescu ar fi spus: "M-au condamnat".

Dincolo de aceasta poveste care este confirmata partial de "Memoriile" lui Gorbaciov si va putea deveni certa doar cand accesul la dosare va fi permis istoricilor, Nicolae Ceausescu era informat despre ceea ce i se pregatea, iar atitudinea sa de la procesul de la Targoviste, cand vorbea despre "tradare si agenturi straine", trebuie privita cu alti ochi.

Explozie necontrolata

Dupa cum sustine Alex Stoenescu, actiunea sovietica din Romania este astazi cunoscuta: infiltrarea de unitati de comando, reactivarea unor retele de spionaj si initierea altora noi, influentarea unor factori politici ezitanti sau derutati, organizarea si sprijinirea unui complot politico-militar si a unei disidente, toate cu scopul de a genera o revolta populara controlata, in fruntea careia sa fie plasata o echipa reformist-gorbaciovista.

Sovieticii au tinut cont, asa cum au dezvaluit istoricii Mihai Retegan si Dumitru Preda, de Comisia Bogomolov infiintata la Moscova care a estimat ca regimul Ceausescu impingea situatia din Romania spre o explozie sociala necontrolata, dar care, prin efectul psihologiei romanilor, ar fi orientat rapid statul abia eliberat spre Occident, inclusiv printr-o retragere brusca din Tratatul de la Varsovia.

Pentru a preveni iesirea Romaniei din sfera de influenta sovietica, Moscova a initiat o operatiune militara neconventionala menita sa asigure o rasturnare controlata a regimului Ceausescu.

"Prima actiune a fost declansata la Iasi, incepand cu ziua de 9 decembrie 1989, dar pe 14 decembrie ea a fost dezamorsata de Securitate. Alte orase unde erau pregatite instigari profesioniste la revolta au fost Brasov - unde, de asemenea, Securitatea a reactionat printr-o operatiune de prevenire -, Cluj-Napoca, unde grupul din jurul Doinei Cornea s-a dovedit nepregatit si slab organizat, si Timisoara, unde actiunea era planificata a se dezvolta in jurul unui pastor reformat, aflat de mai mult timp in legatura cu spionajul maghiar.

Lovitura principala este data la Bucuresti, prin sabotarea profesionista a mitingului organizat de Nicolae Ceausescu in ziua de 21 decembrie 1989, urmata de rezistenta unui grup mic, dar foarte hotarat de tineri in zona de centru a Capitalei.

Nicolae Ceausescu, secundat de ministrul apararii, generalul Vasile Milea, reactioneaza din nou prin represiune militara. Grupuri de agitatori reusesc sa mobilizeze angajatii platformelor industriale si, incepand cu ora 3.00 din dimineata de 22 decembrie 1989, in Bucuresti se declanseaza revolta populara", spune istoricul Alex Stoenescu.

Apar turistii, dar si teroristii

Realizatoarea TV Ruxandra Cesereanu identifica in cartea "Decembrie ‘89. Deconstructia unei revolutii" noua categorii de oameni care puteau sa joace rolul de teroristi:

securisti fideli lui Ceausescu;
orfani romani crescuti de Ceausescu - "ieniceri" cu mentalitate de kamikaze;
teroristi arabi (libieni, arabi, iranieni, palestinieni);
agenti straini (sovietici, maghiari);
militari sovietici racolati din randul basarabenilor;
lunetisti actionand independent;
detinuti de drept comun din penitenciarele romanesti;
ofiteri din Armata, Ministerul de Interne sau USLA.

Dincolo de aceste teorii, cert este ca mai multi cetateni sovietici au fost implicati in ceea ce se numeste astazi fenomenul terorist-diversionist.

Dupa data de 10 decembrie 1989, in Romania patrunde un numar fara precedent de turisti sovietici. Coloane intregi de automobile Lada, cu cate patru barbati atletici, sunt semnalate la granita cu URSS, Bulgaria si Ungaria. Conform unor statistici, se estimeaza la cateva mii numarul acestora si care au patruns in Romania in decembrie ‘89.

Pe 13 decembrie, rapoartele Inspectoratelor de Securitate Olt si Dolj semnalau deplasarea masiva a coloanelor de automobile Lada in directia Timisoara.

La o singura statie PECO, de exemplu, a fost semnalata o coloana de 12 autoturisme. Turistii sovietici, atletici si sobri, au evitat orice contact cu "bastinasii" romani.

S-a remarcat faptul ca, de regula, sovieticii evitau hotelurile, preferand sa ramana peste noapte in masini, prin parcari si campinguri. Si serviciile secrete occidentale au remarcat invazia din Romania in prima jumatate a lui decembrie ‘89.

Turistii sovietici formau forta de soc a trupelor speciale SPETZNAZ, formata din membri operativi ai GRU (serviciul secret al armatei sovietice), care actionau in civil.

S-a tras din autoturisme Lada

Revolutionarul Daniel Pacuraru afirma ca a intalnit pe strazi mai multi revolutionari basarabeni, care cu greu puteau vorbi romaneste. Ofiterii de securitate trimisi pe strazi pe 22 decembrie pentru a observa grupuri ori echipe de diversionisti au indentificat indivizi atletici, vorbind stricat romaneste, cu accent basarabean, care indemnau cetatenii sa se adune si sa protesteze.

Locurile unde au actionat in seara de 22 decembrie a fost intersectia Stirbei-Voda cu Luterana din Bucuresti. Pe 23 decembrie, acelasi grup anunta oamenii "sa nu se sperie daca aud avioane pentru ca sunt fratii nostri de la Chisinau care ne vin in ajutor". Aceiasi "frati" le cereau la Izvor cetatenilor sa le spuna unde sunt unitati militare ca sa mearga sa ceara arme.

Asupra Academiei Militare a fost deschis focul din doua autoturisme Lada de culoare rosie, cu numere de inmatriculare din URSS. Colonelul Ionel Bejan a confirmat inclusiv la Parchetul General ca ocupantii din aceste autoturisme Lada care au bantuit Bucurestiul in cele mai fierbinti locuri erau imbracati standard: caciuli rusesti si cu scurta si pantaloni sport.

Procurorul Dan Voinea a confirmat ca astfel de turisti sovietici au actionat in mai multe localitati din tara. Unii dintre ei au fost ucisi in Bradesti, la intrarea in Craiova, iar doua victime au fost indentificate ca facand parte din Ministerul de Interne sovietic.

Istoria reala

Numarul de participanti la evenimente

300-400 de persoane incearca un protest in Piata Unirii din Iasi in dupa-amiaza zilei de 14 decembrie 1989;

800-3.000 de persoane se strang si participa la evenimentele din 16-17 decembrie 1989 de la Timisoara;

2.500-3.000 de persoane au participat la protestele din Piata Romana si din zona Hotelului Intercontinental in seara de 21 decembrie 1989;

30-50 de persoane la baricada din zona Universitate-Hotel Intercontinental, in noaptea de 21 spre 22 decembrie;

Peste 150.000 de persoane stationate in Piata Palatului, intre orele 12.00 si 18.00 pe 22 decembrie 1989.

In total, pentru intregul fenomen de prezenta activa in strada, inregistrat in perioada 16-26 decembrie 1989 pe intreg teritoriul tarii, se estimeaza o participare intre 1,5% si 1,8% din populatia activa.

17 years since the fall of Communism (series of articles from Romanian media)

Romanian President defies scandal in condemning communist regime "explicitly and categorically"

HotNews.ro, Dec 18, 2006

A joint session of the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament in which President Traian Basescu presented a report condemning communism for the first time in CE European history was marred by unprecedented protests among some parliamentarians that prompted security officers to intervine to calm down demonstrators.

Traian Basescu appeared before the Parliament to present a report put up by a presidential commission of historians and experts that studied the effects of the 45-year communist regime on Romania and its people. The report found communism as an “illegitimate and criminal regime”.

The report names and blames communist-era officials who supported a regime that affected the interests, rights and security of its people. Among those names one can find many of today’s politicians, including ex-President Ion Iliescu and far-right leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor.

That prompted charges that the report was based on biased historical investigations.

Basescu accompanied the presentation with a statement that said “as head of the Romanian state, I explicitly and categorically condemn the communist system of Romania” in the second half of the 1900s.

The statement showed the communist regime in Romania was based on a “foreign diktat” in the years of 1944-1947 and could only last until its collapse in December 1989.

In a position unprecedented in former communist states of the ex-Soviet bloc, Basescu said he fully supported the findings of the commission condemning communism as the regime was based on a “fanatical ideology, an systematic hate-fueling ideology for which class fight and the dictatorship of workers symbolized the essence of historical progress”.

And he asked the joint chambers of the Parliament to support the statement condemning the crimes of the communist regime, of regret and compassion towards its victims. And he called for the building of a monument dedicated to victims of communism and the establishment of a Communist Dictatorship Museum in Romania.

He also hailed anti-communist dissidents who rose their voice against late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, including intellectuals like Paul Goma, Mircea Dinescu or Radu Filipescu, but also Liviu Babes, a man who in early 1989 put himself on fire in protest of the communist regime.

But his statements were marred by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of the far-right Greater Romania Party-PRM, and his party colleagues who booed the President throughout his speech.

CV Tudor, who was a “court poet” for the Ceausescu family under the communist regime and ran a daily newspaper seen as the mouth of the Securitate, Ceausescu’s dreaded political police, also carried a banner depicting Basescu behind bars and reading “the Prison of the Mafia”.

While not as violent in their behavior as the PRM parliamentarians, representatives of the Social Democratic Party-PSD, the main opposition group in Romania, also dismissed the report as futile and lacking credibility.

According to PSD president Mircea Geoana the document - known as the Tismaneanu Report after the name of Vladimir Tismaneanu, the head of the presidential commission - was presented at a time when Romania did not need such fuss as a country about to join the European Union.

"The wounds of the past have been re-opened," Geoana added.

N.Y. Times article

Eastern Europe Struggles to Purge Security Services

By Craig S. Smith

December 12, 2006

BUCHAREST, Romania — Communism is gone and democracy is well implanted in the countries of the old Warsaw Pact, but the Soviet era’s security services are still sending shudders through the region nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The case of Alexander V. Litvinenko, the former K.G.B. agent who was poisoned in London in November, would not seem out of place here, where a death threat in Romania, a suicide in Bulgaria and unbroken silence on several unsolved murders provide clues to the continued presence of the secret services today.

Some members of the secret police remain in place. Others took advantage of the state-asset fire sale that came with the dismantling of centrally planned economies and are now quietly powerful players.

“In ’89, only Communism was killed, but the former state security and Communist Party chiefs took the economic power,” said Marius Oprea, president of the Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism, a Romanian government group.

As a result, the files that documented many of the era’s darkest deeds, from blackmail to torture to assassination, have remained closed — and few of the agents and informers whose reports fattened the folders of the services have ever been identified.

But that is changing with the advent of new governments that have displaced those more closely associated with the old Communists, and with pressure from the European Union. A renewed effort is under way across the former Soviet bloc to expose the continued role of the security services and to root out former police agents and collaborators.

The effort is not without risks. In November, Bozhidar Doychev, the man who oversaw Bulgaria’s most sensitive secret service archives, was found dead at his desk, with a bullet in his head from his own handgun.

His death was ruled a suicide, but many people have linked it to efforts by some in the government to identify public figures who worked with the country’s former Committee for State Security.

Mr. Oprea, a friend of Mr. Litvinenko’s, has experienced the threat up close.

On a Romanian street in his hometown, Brazov, a man approached him last year and warned that his toddler son could come to harm if he continued to “push things.”

“They are not happy when you start to dig into what happened after 1989,” said Mr. Oprea, who sent his family to live in Germany after the man’s warning.

Most of Central and Eastern Europe’s former Communist countries tried to purge their societies of Soviet-era secret police and informers in the aftermath of Communism’s collapse. But the closer they were to Russia, the less effective their purges were.

While many of the region’s new political leaders look decisively to the West for their future, some former Communists and the secret services that served them are drawn to the revitalized power of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and his F.S.B., the successor to the K.G.B.

East Germany and the Czech Republic were the most successful with their purges after 1989, opening secret police files and screening public figures for past collaboration with the intelligence services. Poland screened tens of thousands of people in the early 1990s, but the process lost steam — until the nationalist Law and Justice Party came to power last year and revived it.

Bulgaria is only now beginning to confront the past of its secret police, who have been implicated in plots ranging from the murder of a Bulgarian dissident, Georgi I. Markov, with a poison-tipped umbrella on Waterloo Bridge in London in 1978 to an attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

But nowhere has the struggle between the former secret services and the forces for change been as intense as in Romania, now poised to join the European Union.

Before 1989, Romania’s Securitate was one of the Eastern bloc’s largest secret police forces in proportion to its population. Under the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, it was also among the most brutal. An estimated 11,000 agents and a half-million informers watched millions of Romanian citizens, hundreds of thousands of whom were imprisoned for political reasons. Some were killed.

While the heads of the secret services have been changed and the services have been reorganized, much of the rank and file remains, now with ties to a powerful business elite.

Earlier this year, for example, the Justice Ministry disbanded its secret service, the General Directorate for Protection and Anti-Corruption. The organization had been wiretapping judges and gathering other information, “which we do not really know ended up where or with whom,” the justice minister, Monica Macovei, told local newspapers.

The service was set up in 2001 by Marian Ureche, a former Securitate colonel who resigned in 2003 after the local news media disclosed his secret police past. He was one of 1,600 former Securitate officers “who continued to hold key posts in the intelligence services established after 1989,” according to an anonymous 2002 report published by Romania’s Ziua newspaper and never challenged by the security services.

Many of the most powerful businessmen in Romania have links to the Securitate, even if they deny having benefited from such relationships — something that is, by its nature, difficult to prove.

Silvian Ionescu, the country’s top environmental official, was a former high-ranking Securitate officer who became wealthy after Communism’s fall through various business deals.

Dan Voiculescu, a media mogul and president of the Conservative Party, denied for years that he had Securitate ties and successfully sued several journalists for suggesting otherwise. But earlier this year, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, a government group that is checking the pasts of elected officials, civil servants and members of civil society, announced that Mr. Voiculescu had indeed acted as a secret police informer under the code name Felix.

Mr. Voiculescu has since admitted that he collaborated, though only “two or three times for economic espionage.” He said others involved with the Securitate stole assets or used their connections in other ways to accumulate wealth.

The first government not closely linked to the former Communists came to power in 1996 and passed a law requiring that the secret police archives be opened. But the government changed hands and lustration, as the process of exposing past Communist agents is called, stalled.

After years of delays, the security services are starting to turn over files to the National Council.

Those records under the council’s control fill about 10 miles of shelf space — roughly 1.8 million individual files. Romanians can request a copy of their file, if it exists, allowing them a sometimes cathartic look into the work of their tormentors.

In the city of Ploeste, Vasile Paraschiv, a 78-year-old former factory worker, holds up a six-inch stack of photocopies. The papers document the Securitate’s efforts to have him permanently committed to a psychiatric hospital because of his political views.

“I didn’t want to be a Communist Party member anymore,” he explained.

Mr. Paraschiv managed to win a court case in 1977 that allowed him to receive treatment at home, though he was sent to psychiatric hospitals on other occasions and forced to take antipsychotic drugs for years.

But the security services have not yet turned over all of the files, and there is widespread suspicion that the most important ones are being withheld.

“We don’t have any idea how many there are,” said Claudiu-Octavian Secasiu, president of the National Council. He thinks there are hundreds of thousands of files still in the hands of the secret services, based on an intelligence report from 1994.

The security services have until the end of the year to finish transferring the files, but confidence in the process is very low.

Vladimir Tismaneanu, a professor of politics at the University of Maryland who was appointed by President Traian Basescu to head a commission looking into Romania’s Communist past, complains that “there are still institutions, primarily the secret services, that hold back despite presidential intervention and will not deliver files in their possession.”

Mr. Tismaneanu said that despite presidential support, he has failed to get information on several Communist-era deaths blamed on the Securitate, including two possible poisonings of Radio Free Europe directors with radioactive thalium in the 1980s and the shooting of a Ceausescu critic in Chicago in 1991.

“We were told the files didn’t exist,” Mr. Tismaneanu said. “I don’t believe it.”

The council has succeeded in turning up a handful of informers among public figures, but most were minor players who, some say, lacked the clout to keep their files hidden or were victims of political sabotage.

The case that has drawn the most attention is that of former culture minister and Parliament member Mona Musca, who was thrown out of the Liberal Party after it was revealed that she had worked for the Securitate monitoring foreign students at the University of Timisoara, beginning in 1977. She says she was targeted because she was a popular politician and a potential rival of the country’s prime minister.

The file of Mr. Voiculescu of the Conservative Party was found just after he was nominated to become deputy prime minister. The news blocked his move and his party recently withdrew from the governing coalition.

“Instead of opening the files in the 1990s, the people in power kept them because they could be used for blackmail,” Mr. Voiculescu said, adding that as long as there are files in the secret services hands, “that can go on forever.”

It may be impossible to clarify the past until all interested parties have disappeared from the field.

Corneliu Turianu, a Communist-era judge who is one of the council’s 11 members, flips through a thick stack of paper at his Bucharest home, running his finger down the lists of vetted names, looking for his own.

“There are always new files appearing,” he said, pausing to pour a visitor a glass of Scotch with shaking hands. He said the process will continue until those who were adults before 1989 are dead. “Then,” he said, “nature will take its course."

Romanian hacker (L.A. Times)

Computer expert accused of hacking government sites

Romanian Victor Faur, 26, and his 'WhiteHat Team' allegedly accessed high-level military data.

By Greg Krikorian
Times Staff Writer

December 1, 2006

A Romanian computer expert was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles for allegedly hacking into more than 150 computers used by NASA, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy.

The 10-count indictment accuses Victor Faur, 26, of Arad, Romania, of conspiracy, unauthorized access to government computers and intentional damage to computers during a two-year period that ended last month.

The apparent goal of Faur and his hacking group, known as the "WhiteHat Team," was to flaunt their ability to access some of the government's most sensitive computer systems. Time after time, the indictment alleges, Faur used a computer program to cycle through millions of possible user names and password combinations until he gained access to the computers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Goddard Space Flight Center, Sandia National Laboratory and the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Faur then would intentionally impair the integrity and availability of information on the computers, gaining "high-level access" that would give him the names and passwords of authorized users of the system.

Faur also would download computer programs onto the compromised computers so they could be used as hosts for online "chat rooms" with others in the group, according to the indictment.

It adds that Faur and the others chose the computer targets because NASA "has the reputation as being the most secure information system on the Internet, along with other military and [U.S.] government sites."

During their yearlong investigation, authorities concluded that the computer intrusions and resulting loss of scientific data cost NASA nearly $1.4 million in losses, while the Navy and Energy Department combined suffered $100,000 in losses.

"He infected so many computers," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Hoffstadt. "And while the dollar loss may be somewhat low, it doesn't capture the fact that the computers that had to be taken out of service and repaired were collecting and analyzing scientific data that cannot be replaced."

Faur already had been arrested by Romanian authorities in a similar computer hacking case, Hoffstadt said.

If convicted in the U.S., Faur faces a maximum prison sentence of 54 years.

"The fact he is facing that much time in prison is an indication of how seriously we take this case," said Hoffstadt.