Ion Iliescu is the symbol of PSD. But not just that. He is the symbol of a secretive Romania. Today we will see how Laura Codruta Kovesi, General Prosecutor at the time, struggled to bury the Revolution dossier, and also how Gabriel Oprea and Viorel Hrebenciuc fought for the control of the Minister of Internal Affairs. Under the eagle gaze of Traian Basescu.

Ion Iliescu will be one of the subjects of this episode, but until then I want to make a remark.

Operation "We are the State!" debuted in EVZ a few weeks ago, with the following case: a high dignitary celebrates his birthday.

The President of Romania is invited and attended to the small party.

There were at the same table information services executives, senior judges, head prosecutors, politicians, not many, 10-12 people.  Expected at the entrance, the President is headed to the table where he is told, on a sharp tone: Sir, the whole State stands at this very table!  We guarantee you a second term!

Disclosing of real power  relations existing at the peak of the State first caused stupefaction, and then  a denigration campaign of those written by us.  Paradoxically, there weren't used any right to a reply or explicit denials of the meetings that the politicians, judges from the ICCJ, prosecutors and  information officers had  in the premises of SRI. I have no knowledge of any complaint referred to the CSM for defending the professional reputation on the part of DNA head, Laura Codruta Kovesi, former President of the High Court of Cassation and  Justice, Livia Stanciu,or  the former DNA Prosecutor,now  an ICCJ  judge, Horia Valentin Șelaru, or other magistrates.  If they were to deny the presence at this birthdays  of Florian Coldea, former First Deputy Director of SRI or George Maior, head of the SRI, in the two moments that we've documented so far, we would have had the opportunity to hear, from an  independent source, if these things are normal.

As a response to the questions we’ve sent, SRI would have cleared up in terms of access,  lists of participants, and from  which funds were built the villa and the two tennis courts from Villa T14, located in Pipera.

I stick to my opinion that these events, hosted by SRI objective called K2, represents a hint regarding the labyrinth of interests that was established at the highest level in the Justice department,The Public Prosecutor's Office, Secret Services and politics. Meetings of this type appeared as something special, but according to the information we've obtained a few days ago, they represented a habit at the highest level of force structures.

Such moment occurred in one of the villas of protocol from blvd. Mircea Eliade, former Primaverii, in the year 2009.  In July 2009 the party  of a Deputy Prime Minister in the Boc 1 Government  took place, it was the birthday of freshly named Internal Affiars Minister, Dan Nica, and only the most important state people were invited to this private event.

George Maior and Laura Codruta Kovesi-honorary guests at Dan Nica's birthday party.

Among these, three extremely interesting figures can be seen: George Maior, head of the SRI, Laura Codruta Kovesi, General Prosecutor and  Marius Iacob, Department head prosecutor at Public Prosecutor's Office.  Beside them, at the same meeting, were present Emil Boc, Prime Minister, Senate Chairman, Mircea Geoana,Viorel Hrebenciuc, Marian Vanghelie, Ilie Sârbu, Adrian Videanu, Victor Ponta, officers of state, political figures.

According to one of the participants, it appears that at this party were very few tables, and most of the participants were standing.

The period is extremely important, since this is the time that two crucial events happened: Government crisis linked to the nomination of quaestor Virgil Ardelenu at the head of the Information Service (DGIPI or U.M.0962) and removing Ion Iliescu's prosecution in the Revolution Dossier by the Public Prosecutor's Office ran by Laura Codruta Kovesi.

Both events take place in the context of what we generically called -Operation "We are the State!", and Dan Nica's birthday is turning into a key moment. After rescuing from dismissal of SRI General Florian Coldea in 2007, this second episode comes to complete the beginning of the construction.

The battle for UM 0962

You might not remember the troubled context of the rapid succession of the Ministers of Internal Affairs, so I shortly present them again:

December 22nd  2008 – the investment of Boc’s Government December 22nd  2008 – January 13th 2009. Gavriel Oprea – Minister of Internal Affairs. Gabriel Oprea resigns January 13th 2009- January 20th 2009 – Dan Nica is substitute Deputy Prime Minister January 20th 2009 – February 1st 2009, Liviu Dragnea takes over Internal Affairs he also resigns February 2nd – October 1st 2009, Dan Nica is named Minister of Internal Affairs the new head from UM 0962.

 

The circumstances of naming the new Minister of the Internal Affairs on behalf of the PSD were extremely turbulent, being a tough competition between Oprea and Cătălin Voicu. The first was preferred by some of the PSD leaders because of his friendship with George Maior, head of the SRI, and his ties with the Transylvanian grouping Rus-Dîncu-Pușcaș, and Catalin Voicu was representing Viorel Hrebenciuc and Marian Vanghelie.  The score in the Executive Committee of PSD was 32 to 28 in favor of Gabriel Oprea, supported heavily by those mentioned above, plus Miron Mitrea.

"Well, because of him (Mitrea-n.r.) I lost the vote.  He convinced Oprisan not to vote with me. I said: «Oprişan, God will punish you!». «I swear on my girl  I have voted with you!» «Hey, no more, someone sow that you haven't voted with me, Marian! At twelve o'clock at night you called me at Hrebenciuc's place.Who knows how many times I came to you, at Vrancea. You've seen that if I retired, your dossier was sent to Cluj? You are going to see what you'll take in Cluj ", Catalin Voicu was telling Alexandru Mazare according to records.

It was an effort of the State institutions to prevent an information service to reach the hand of Mircea Geoana, it all happened under the patronage of Traian Basescu. Was it a proper fight? To the extent that politicians are using intelligence to spy on opponents, Yes.  It can be said that at that time, the group Maior-OPrea-Coldea-Dragnea-Ponta, in an early power stage were struggling to block the influence of Catalin Voicu-Marian Vanghelie-Viorel Hrebenciuc. And at this stage they did it!

Only that the nomination of quaestor Virgil Ardeleanu by Gabriel Oprea sparked a storm in the party. Mircea Geoana, who is told to have been advised by Gabriel Oprea that Virgil Ardeleanu will be proposed, but then he denied, forced the exclusion of Gabriel Oprea from PSD, pushed by Vanghelie and Hrebenciuc. He earned it, the only ones who abstained the vote being Victor Ponta and Ilie Sârbu, people close to George Maior and the group from Cluj. It was a signal directly addressed to Mircea Geoana that they were not going to quietly assist at Oprea's execution. 

TRAIAN BASESCU’S ROLE

The source of this scandal seems to have been Traian Basescu who suggested Gabriel Oprea to nominate Virgil Ardeleanu, promising him support in case of crisis.

Liviu Dragnea took the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but with the "OK" of a group of better informed people, he refused to name at the DGIPI a person recommended by Catalin Voicu and Marian Vanghelie.  He preferred to resign, being frightened by the force of the two groupings. He hasn't decided yet what side to take. 

So Dan Nica will be Minister, the one whose birthday will attend, again, at the same table, the Attorney General and the Director of SRI.

With the scandal from Internal Affairs, with the approach of the presidential campaign, confronting Mircea Geoana and Traian Basescu, the operation "We are the State!" was going it's own way. Regardless of the outcome of the election, its members had to survive.

What is most exciting is that, from this conflict, in 2009, Gabriel Oprea has gone,  supported only by a handful of people from the Secret Services, in the adventure that would cause the birth of a party- UNPR, whose Genesis was not foreign to the group formed by Maior-Coldea -Kovesi.

Ion Iliescu isn’t prosecuted in the Revolution Dossier

Returning to the birthday of Dan Nica, what drew our attention was the fact that one of the participants told us the following facts: "I was in a group of people among Maior and Kovesi. At one point, I heard Kovesi saying: "You didn't like my solution?" It was a response to a reproachful joke made by Ilie Sârbu, if I recall well, who was telling Kovesi that she takes Basescu's orders to seriously. What solution was all about? Not prosecuting Iliescu in the Revolution Dossier". . .

"The denial of my resolution to start the prosecution by Laura Kovesi was illegal since normally a complaint against the DA's acts should have been solved by it's direct chief. So, if it was done by Ion Vasilache first, the procedure would have been respected, on the one hand, and on the other, those convicted have profited because they were simply washed in an atypical form. Basically, a resolution to commence the criminal prosecution is handled according to the penal code procedure by pulling out under prosecution, or cessation of criminal prosecution, depending on each case. It was not possible to rule out the resolution", Dan Voinea Military Prosecutor, who instrumented the Revolution Dossier in luju.ro

Apparently a trivial conversation, if we did not take into account the positions of the ones involved.

What was reported by the dignitary that attended   Dan Nica's birthday,which I repeat, we can locate in July 2009, is an important clue for elucidating one of the mysteries of Justice.

Through the resolution from 09. 04. 2009, a few months before, the Attorney General of the High Court of Cessation and Justice upheld as valid the complaints formulated  by Ion Iliescu and Teodor Brateș against resolution  No. 97/P/1990 from December  07th 2004 of the Military Prosecutor's Department and ordered  the dismiss of criminal prosecution for Ion Iliescu, Teodor Brateș, Virgil Magureanu, Gelu Voican Voiculescu, Ion Preda, Victor Ionescu, George Popescu, Silviu Brucan, Petre Popescu and Alexandru Bârlădeanu.

How did the SRI and the Army united their forces in order to abscond the Dossier.

The context in which Laura Codruta Kovesi's gesture was than judged was a political one, the moment's speculations were related to the proximity of the presidential election campaign and failing to turn Ion Iliescu into a political martyr. The only thing is that there had been a meeting at the Cotroceni Palace mediated by Traian Basescu, in which he publicly reproaches the blocking of research.  So this hypothesis fails.

Traian Basescu to Laura Codruta Kovesi in 2009:

"Don't mistake me to a journalist you are making a statement to.

You are talking to the head of the State, who is telling you: 1600 people died at the Revolution, and you are closing the Dossier. Have you or haven't you got the solution? People died at the 13-15 June Mineriads. What you want to say is that I require a solution?!The reality requires you to tell if those people shut themselves or if they were shut by someone. .Don't mistake me to the journalist you make statements to", said Traian Basescu.

In reality, Laura Codruța Kovesi had an extremely active role in the attempted to block the research in the Revolution Dossier, sources from the Association December 21st, telling us of the two meetings of the SUPREME COUNCIL in which the Attorney General has opposed the discharging of some copies of the file, in spite of the ECHR decision. Previously, the ECHR ruled that in the spirit of weapons equality, 21 December Association is entitled to a full copy of the file. Kovesi didn't want to give these copies, so she sent four addresses to the ECHR in which she mention that she wanted to obtain explanations on the way in which this ruling has to be carried out. 

In fact, it was indeed a political gesture, but in another sense than that predicted by analysts at that time. The purpose of the file was the coverage of the real guilty for the deaths of hundreds of people after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu. It has been said that there was no interest on the part of the Army for the research to go forward and in my discussions I was given by example the order given by the former Minister of Defense Constantin Degeratu, since the time of Emil Constantinescu.

With the coming to Cotroceni of Emil Constantinescu, it is also required the reopening of the most important dossiers. In 1997, however, Constantin Degeratu, became Minister of Defense, and gave the order 522: "Presentation of military personnel and civilian to the law enforcement inquiry, regarding the events of December 1989, will be made only with the approval of the Minister of National Defense".

Then I was told that General Constantin Degeratu was a member of the administration of Traian Basescu, that neither those in SRI  were eager to search the past the events of December 1989, as a journalist specializing in those events invoked Kovesi's father's past said: "during the Communist regime, while exercising the function of local Chief Prosecutor in Medias, Mr. Ioan Lascu was a member of the Executive Municipal Committee of the Romanian Communist Party in Medias ", hence the special attention granted to Ion Iliescu.

My conclusion, after hearing many opinions, is that Laura Codruta Kovesi acted in the case of attempt of burying the Revolution Dossier as a leader for a group of officers from the military and intelligence structures, who lacked any interest for things to explode. From the perspective of active officers, but especially of the reservists.