Prime Minister Victor Ponta asked the Minister of Justice to prepare for next week’s government adoption of the law on disposing of special pensions for Communist torturers. He explained the pensions would be placed in a special fund and will be given back only to those who are acquitted by the court. “Practically, (…) we should stop all pensions paid by the state budget and place them in a special fund for victim compensations. If the court acquits them, we will give them their money back. If they are convicted, then we will know we did the right thing”, Ponta stated yesterday at the start of the government meeting, Mediafax informs. Minister of Justice Robert Cazanciuc said the bill draft will be completed in the coming days after consultations with the Minister of Labor. On August 14, Victor Ponta stated he was willing to take responsibility for suspending pension payments to Communist torturers, if the Prosecutor’s Office initiated criminal proceedings against them. He also asked Minister of Justice Robert Cazanciuc to find a legal solution for this problem.In April, IICCMER (the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile) announced that it had identified many deeds punishable by criminal law, which had been committed by 35 employees of the General Directorate of Penitentiaries during their terms between 1950 and 1964. The persons subject to the investigation are between 81 and 99 years of age and live in Romania. The Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court has recently announced that criminal proceedings will be resumed for charges of genocide against one of those persons – Alexandru Visinesuc, aged 88.
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