Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first post-communist president, dead at 95
The Moscow-trained engineer took power after the bloody 1989 revolution that culminated in the overthrow and execution of dictator Ceausescu
Ion Iliescu, the former Romanian president who steered his country through its transition from communism to democracy and was dogged by controversy over his own political past, has died. He was 95.
Iliescu died on Tuesday in a hospital in Bucharest, according to a press release from the government. Romanian media had reported he was in hospital undergoing treatment for lung cancer.
A Moscow-trained engineer and long-time Communist Party official, Iliescu emerged as the central figure in Romania’s bloody revolution that started in 1989 and culminated in the overthrow and execution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
As the founder of the National Salvation Front, Iliescu took over interim power in the chaotic days that followed Ceausescu’s overthrow in December 1989.
He then became Romania’s first democratically elected president and served two terms until 1996, overseeing the start of the country’s tumultuous transition to a free-market economy.