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yesterday

Ion Iliescu Lies in State at Cotroceni Palace During National Mourning

Following his death on August 5, Romania declared Thursday a national day of mourning before his state funeral

Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu gestures during a meeting with foreign media in Bucharest May 17, 2007. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu (ROMANIA)/File Photo
Image
Priests perform a brief religious service next to the coffin of the late Ion Iliescu, Romania's first freely elected president after the fall of communism in 1989, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
FILE - A man passes by posters of former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, backdropped by the communist-era House of the People, currently the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest Saturday Nov. 25, 2000.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

Overview

  • The former president’s casket was transferred August 6 from the Bucharest hospital to Cotroceni Palace, where it lies in state draped with Romania’s tricolor flag
  • President Nicuşor Dan’s government has ordered flags at half-staff and scheduled a state funeral for Thursday, marking the formal end of his public memorial
  • Leaders of the Save Romania Union party announced they will not attend the ceremonies, while the Social Democratic Party called on all politicians to show respect for Iliescu’s contributions
  • Unresolved legal battles shadow his passing, with military prosecutors charging him in 2018 and again in January 2025 with crimes against humanity over the 1989 revolution and 1990 miners’ crackdown
  • Iliescu is credited with steering Romania onto the NATO path in 2004 and advancing its EU membership process despite disputes over his democratic record