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The director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Eduard Hellvig, sent a message on Tuesday, 35 years since the death of dissident Gheorghe Ursu, stating that "between SRI [the Romanian Intelligence Service] and the communist Securitate [secret police - ed. n.] there is not and there will never be any form of understanding or compatibility", according to AGERPRES.
"Today [Tuesday, ed. n.] marks 35 years since the death of engineer Gheorghe Ursu, who passed away on November 17, 1985 as a result of torture suffered during his investigation by the Securitate forces. It is a good time to remember and appreciate the true value of the courage and altruism of all those opponents of the communist regime, known or anonymous, who rose up against an oppressive and criminal system and contributed to the transformation of Romania into a country where individual freedoms and democratic values became a given," Eduard Hellvig was quoted as saying in a press release of the SRI.
Gheorghe Ursu ("Babu") was born on July 1, 1926 in the Bessarabian town of Soroca, graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1950 and worked until his death at the Bucharest Institute of Civil Engineering, holding various positions. In 1950 he was expelled from the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) for "friendship with reactionary elements". He was reported to the Securitate and arrested in December 1984 and during the investigation he admitted that he is the author of two letters sent to Radio Free Europe, letters denouncing the criminal measures ordered by Nicolae Ceausescu in connection with the repair of buildings damaged by the earthquake of March 4, 1977, as well as the censorship enforced by the Bucharest regime on writers. In September 1985, he was arrested again on the pretext of "illegal possession of foreign currency", investigated by the Securitate and tortured to reveal his "connections".
"The circumstances of his death are today the subject of a lawsuit in court. The Romanian Intelligence Service voices its hope and confidence that the Justice will establish the truth. I unequivocally reaffirm that the Romanian Intelligence Service not only firmly delimits itself from the Securitate crimes and abuses, but condemns them. There is and there never will be any form of understanding or compatibility between the Romanian Intelligence Service and the communist Securitate, as there is none between the values of a democratic regime and any form of totalitarianism.The Romanian Intelligence Service remains determined to support the process through which the Romanian society wants to free itself definitively from the darkness of the past," says the director of SRI.
