20-year prison term for a Romanian former labour camp commander

Publicat de Cosmin Meca, 24 iulie 2015, 16:18 / actualizat: 30 ianuarie 2021, 10:58

Alexandru Vişinescu, who ran a labour camp under the Communist regime, was sentenced to 20 years of jail on Friday. Vişinescu, who is 89, had been on trial since September on charges of crimes against humanity in the first such case since the fall of the country’s Communist regime in December 1989. However, the ruling is not final as it could be appealed at Romania’s Supreme Court. Vişinescu ran the Râmnicu Sărat prison in an impoverished part of eastern Romania from 1956 to 1963. Prosecutors have accused him of subjecting prisoners to beatings, denying them food and medical treatment, and exposing them to cold temperatures. He insisted that he was following orders.