Tudor Postelnicu

Romanian politician and head of the secret police

Tudor Postelnicu, politician. Born: 13 November 1931 in Romania. Died: 12 August 2017, aged 86.

The held until 1987. He then became interior minister until Ceausescu was overthrown during a 1989 anti-communist revolt. Postenicu was sentenced to prison in 1990, serving four years for aggravated murder before being released on health grounds. He was incarcerated again from 1998 to 1999.

At the time of his death, he was on trial with other former officials for crimes against humanity in the 1985 death of dissident Gheorghe Ursu, who died after being beaten by interrogators and inmates on the orders of the Securitate. Ursu kept a diary where he was critical of the Ceausescu regime.

Postelnicu was on a committee that crushed a coal miners’ protest in the Jiu Valley in 1977. Later, as Securitate chief, he orchestrated a campaign to discredit dissident writer Paul Goma, who fled Romania in 1977, claiming Goma was a foreign agent. As the 1989 revolt erupted, Postelnicu ordered a crackdown on unarmed demonstrators in the southwestern city of Timisoara in which 90 died.

He is survived by his wife