Romania to Try Former Communist-Era Labor Camp Chief

Romania is to try a former Communist-era labor camp chief for crimes against humanity over the deaths of 103 political prisoners half a century ago, prosecutors said Monday.

Ioan Ficior is accused of persecuting "political prisoners from the camp of Periprava" (south-east) by subjecting them to "treatment aimed at their physical destruction", the Romanian prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The prisoners allegedly died in the camp between August 1958 and November 1963 under Ficior's leadership, mainly due to a lack of potable water, food and medicine as well as violence and tough working conditions.

Ficior, 85, has denied the allegations. The start date for his trial has not yet been set.

Ficior is the second former communist commander to go on trial this year, following a wider campaign conducted by the Romanian body investigating Communist-era crimes to bring 35 ex-prison commanders to justice.

A similar trial is to start by the end of September against Alexandru Visinescu, a former chief of the Ramnicu Sarat prison in the east of the country.

Over 600,000 people were sentenced and jailed in Romania for political reasons between 1945 and 1989, according to the Sighet Memorial for the victims of communism.

Romania's Constitutional Court ruled at the end of last year that murder was not subject to the statute of limitation, opening the way for the prosecution of Communist-era crimes.

Former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were convicted of genocide in 1989 in a makeshift trial. They were executed on December 25, 1989.

However, very few former Communist leaders and commanders have been prosecuted in Romania since the return to democracy in 1989.