Romanian ex-prison chief sentenced to 20 years dies in jail
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Ion Ficior, who was incarcerated for the deaths of 103 political inmates while in charge of a communist-era labor camp in Romania, has died. He was 90.
Ficior died Wednesday at Jilava prison hospital, according to Bianca Filote, spokeswoman for the government Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism. The institute began to pursue Ficior and other former prison guards in 2013 in a bid to make them finally accountable for wrongdoing during the communist era, handing over evidence to prosecutors.
Prison hospital spokeswoman Denisa Ene confirmed to The Associated Press that a prisoner, suffering various chronic medical conditions, had died Wednesday morning, but declined to provide further details, citing privacy rules.
Ficior was serving a 20year sentence there for crimes against humanity. He was imprisoned in March 2017, but denied wrongdoing and said he was merely following orders.
But Andrei Muraru, who initiated the investigation of Ficior, said he “showed a complete lack of mercy toward his victims, who endured prolonged suffering, were skeletal inmates, or defenseless elderly people,” he told the AP.
“They were subjected to a diabolic program of extermination through exhausting work, hunger and physical torture,” said Muraru, now an adviser to President Klaus Iohannis.
Ficior was commander at the Periprava labor camp from 1958 to 1963.