Overview

• Romania has declared August 7 a national day of mourning and will hold a state funeral in Bucharest.
• Iliescu died on August 5 at a Bucharest hospital after two months of treatment for lung cancer.
• He led Romania’s post-communist transition, winning elections in 1990, 1992 and 2000 and overseeing its accession to NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.
• Military prosecutors charged him in 2018 and again earlier this year with crimes against humanity over the 1989–90 violent suppressions, but his cases remained unresolved at his death.
• As founder of the Social Democratic Party, he charted Romania’s Euro-Atlantic course but remained a divisive figure for his use of force against protesters.