Romania’s former president Ion Iliescu has been ordered to stand trial for crimes against humanity for his role in the deadly aftermath of the 1989 revolution that toppled the country’s communist regime, prosecutors said Monday.

“It is a particularly important moment for Romania’s justice system that is fulfilling a debt of honour to history,“ chief prosecutor Augustin Lazar told reporters.

The announcement caps a long-running investigation made more difficult by an official reluctance to revisit the 1989 revolution’s bloody aftermath.

Iliescu, now 89, had been a minister in the government of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and went on to lead the National Salvation Front, which took control of the country after the uprising which began in the western city of Timisoara on Dec 16, 1989.

Iliescu was elected president in 1990 and served another term from 2000 to 2004.

It is now up to a Romanian high court to set a date for the trial.

source