Not a single shot was fired in Palace Square. In 1947, we assumed power, but under completely different circumstances. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? I just couldnt convince myself to do it., He is not alone. I have nothing to do with them. They are shooting at children; they are shooting arbitrarily into the apartments. We have ensured an apartment for every citizen through corresponding laws. As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. I will not answer any question. He always claimed to act and speak on behalf of the people, to be a beloved son of the people, but he only tyrannized the people all the time. Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obamas Impeachment We have data concerning both of them. And you might perhaps have achieved the understanding of the Romanian people if you had now admitted your guilt. No one was shot. We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. No one was shot. And Elena says: It is incredible what they are inventing, incredible. Defendant, if you had no accounts in Switzerland, will you sign a statement confirming that the money that may be in Switzerland should be transferred to the Romanian state, the State Bank. Fuelled by the events taking place in Berlin (the wall had come down just a few weeks before) and the ripple impact of the weakening Iron Curtain, Romanians had taken to the streets in . I am a member and the chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences. The two defendants should also know that they are entitled to a counsel for defense, even if they reject this. Elena keeps whispering to him. At the beginning, Ceauescu claimed that it is a provocation to be asked whether he was sick. PROSECUTOR: You claim to have taken measures so that every peasant is entitled to 200 kilograms of wheat. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will answer any question, but only at the Grand National Assembly, before the representatives of the working class. Teams of doctors with emergency medical supplies were being flown in from Geneva last night. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to ensure both success and the appearance of popular support. Its not that we dont want to respect the commander-in-chief, one told me sadly. Nobody is likely to rise up and become a Man on Horseback. You were not used to talking to the people. They are shooting at children; they are shooting arbitrarily into the apartments. How can one say something like this? CEAUSESCU: I will not answer. After many people began to exit the square, Ceauescu shouted over the public address system for them to "remain seated". But who gave the order to shoot? They were not really interested in the people. Now we are making a last attempt. The counsel for the defense now takes the floor and instructs the Ceauescus once again that they have the right to defense and that they should accept this right. Its provisional leader is the 73-year-old former Foreign Minister, Mr Corneliu Mnescu. And we will not betray our people here. CEAUSESCU: She was not a deputy prime minister, but the first deputy prime minister. Because of this indictment, I call for the death sentence and the impounding of the entire property of the two accused. The destruction of buildings and state institutions, undermining of the national economy, in accordance with Articles 165 and 145 of the penal code. Nobody has the right to abolish the Grand National Assembly. Another question . PROSECUTOR: In the same way he refused to hold a dialogue with the people, now he also refuses to speak with us. Making use of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, he delivered a litany of the achievements of the "socialist revolution" and Romanian "multi-laterally developed . Sooner or later an administration neuters itself from sheer implausibility. The prosecutor quotes Ceausescu, Ceausescu's program. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Incredible. CEAUSESCU: I will answer any question, but only at the Grand National Assembly, before the representatives of the working class. Forget the pontifications from the myriad talking heads on TV and radio. "This is the final battle," he said. CEAUSESCU: This is not possible at all. ELENA CEAUESCU: How can one tell us something like this? This demonstrates their lack of understanding. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: We will discuss this before the Grand National Assembly. This occurs when the official line becomes so ridiculous that ordinary people dont even realize they are falling out of step with the Party Line. Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. It doesnt happen as one big wave. I do not recognize this court. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. President, I would like to know something: the accused should tell us who the mercenaries are. Tell the people that I will answer all their questions. Centralized regimes may seem to collapse suddenly, yet in reality they have been coming apart for a long time. The prosecutor asks the counsel for the defense to ask Ceauescu whether he knows that he is no longer president of the country, that Elena Ceauescu has also lost all her official state functions and that the government has been dissolved. CEAUSESCU: No, the people are fighting for freedom and against the new forum. The administrations threats, so dire on paper, are toothless in practice because they actually cant afford to carry out the threat. They are cowards. His security guard appears, disappears and, finally, hustles Ceausescu off the balcony. The two defendants should also know that they are entitled to a counsel for defense, even if they reject this. Workers, military units and other popular organizations were bused to the capitol and given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (executed 12/25) More Notable Events on December 21: 1997 Detroit Lions Barry Sanders is 3rd to run for 2,000 yards in a season 1991 U.S. actress Jane Fonda marries CNN-director Ted Turner 1989 Dan Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not answer. As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. I have so many issues with the presidents policies, including the most recent ones, he told me ruefully. Grandiose plans are announced, pivots are ordered, Red Lines are drawn, all manner of schemes are announced with a maximum of hoopla but everybody ignores it they know the latest fad will pass and the regime will Move On. They organized the putsch. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. PROSECUTOR: Who ordered shooting into the crowd? ELENA CEAUESCU: I will not answer. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the early hours in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest, undeterred by armoured vehicles. A later article shows that Australia is moving toward. I am the president of the people. Those moments of Ceausescus weakness and the power of popular pressure explain why, a mere 48 hours later, Ceausescu was attempting to flee Romania, all power lost. At some point the entire structure of governance becomes a system of workarounds with all real power devolved to the man on the ground. This is where President Ceausescu gave his final speech in December 1989, before fleeing Bucharest. Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of the former President and his wife, Elena, last night. Fiction. Why did you starve the people? I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. Just a genteel, inoffensive refusal from an old gent. PROSECUTOR: This is how you worked with the people and exercised your functions! I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. You are guilty of these offenses even if you do not want to admit it. No one can dissolve the National Assembly. I will only speak in front of it. Sudden realizations are like a crash; its not the fact of deceleration that is fatal so much as the suddenness of it. PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? What defamation, what provocations! The produce which the peasants grew was exported, and the peasants came from the most remote provinces to Bucharest and to the other cities in order to buy bread. . PROSECUTOR: Esteemed Mr. Chairman, I have been one of those who, as a lawyer, would have liked to oppose the death sentence, because it is inhuman. The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. Tyrannies are buried by the shovel of self-deception. Workers from a Bucharest power plant started chanting Ti-mi-oa-ra! Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality When the crisis comes the Leader Maximus discovers to his absolute surprise that all support has vanished. I ask the court, as the plaintiff, to take note that proof has been furnished for all these points, that the two have committed the offenses mentioned. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu should be punished in a really legal trial. You need not admit your mistakes, mister. The crimes against the people grew year by year. Sections in italic type are from the austrian television comentary: NICOLAE CEAUSESCU: I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. At the moment the situation is rather uncertain. PROSECUTOR: But not of our army, you are not the commander in chief of our army. PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot in Bucharest, for instance? Therefore, it is a mistake for the two accused to refuse to cooperate with us. There is still shooting going on, the prosecutor says. A tyrant stops knowing the difference. Nicolae Ceauescu (Romanian pronunciation: [nikola.e tea.uesku]; 26 January 1918 -- 25 December 1989) was a Romanian Communist politician. Did you know that you can purchase some of these books and pamphlets by Richard Fernandez and share them with you friends? First their narratives become so infested with lies they go out of sync with their own administrators on the ground. PROSECUTOR: Children cannot even buy plain candy, and you are living in the palaces of the people. COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE: Even though he -- like her -- committed insane acts, we want to defend them. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize this court. Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize this new forum. However, why are your programs not implemented? PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? He would be executed a few days later. Decembrie 25 1989 - Garnizoana Tirgoviste. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Such impudence! Only the front rows supported Ceauescu with cheers and applause, with most of the crowd remaining impassive. In response, the two laugh, and she says: We do not stay abroad. In 1947, King Michael showed more dignity than you. The people were slaves. The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli They are not only accused of offenses committed during the past few days, but of offenses committed during the past 25 years. They were not really interested in the people. In response, Ceauescu raised his right hand in hopes of silencing the crowd; his stunned expression remains one of the defining moments of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. The final speech of the prosecutor follows: PROSECUTOR: It is very difficult for us to act, to pass a verdict on people who even now do not want to admit to the criminal offenses that they have committed during 25 years and admit to the genocide, not only in Timisoara and Bucharest, but primarily also to the criminal offenses committed during the past 25 years. One day Obama may wake up and find the alliances just gone. The workers were augmented by bystanders who were rounded up on Calea Victoriei. O voce: Un pahar cu apa! The following is a transcript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. The people only received 200 grams per day, against an identity card. PROSECUTOR: Did you hear the charges? I will not answer any more. We will speak only at the National Assembly, because we have worked hard for the people all our lives. Nobody has opened an account. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to insure both success and the appearance of popular support. What should he ask us? The hardship exemption rules, for example, let anyone who experienced domestic violence avoid the mandate, without providing any documentation of abuse. We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. Forget what the politicians on Capitol Hill are saying about the prisoner swap. The president of the United States is the commander in chief over all branches of the military. I will not speak with you provocateurs anymore, and I will not speak with the organizers of the putsch and with the mercenaries. I have observed that she is not even able to read correctly, but she calls herself an university graduate. Why did you make the peasants starve? Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99, why government should get small NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will not sign anything. The great Ceauescu escape attempt came after it had become clear that most of the army had gone over to the people. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceauescus are no longer valid. The crimes against the people grew year by year. CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Esteemed chairman of the court, today we have to pass a verdict on the defendants Nicolae Ceausescu and Elena Ceausescu who have committed the following offenses: Crimes against the people. CEAUSESCU: We had no account in Switzerland. One of the fundamental defenses of a democracy is the truth. He also refuses to recognize the new forum. Elena answers: The intellectuals of this country should hear you, you and your colleagues. PROSECUTOR: Note - He does not recognize the points mentioned in the bill of indictment. He always claimed to act and speak on behalf of the people, to be a beloved son of the people, but he only tyrannized the people all the time. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and cries out, A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse! But wags through the ages have rewritten the lines perhaps less poetically, but more accurately as a hearse, a hearse, my kingdom for a hearse. That sad funereal vehicle is always drawn by teams of corrupt information. ELENA CEAUESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? NICOLAE CEAUESCU: Is it possible that we are facing such charges? Only a few hours before the Genius of the Carpathians had been in apparently complete command. And who brought them into the country? Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway ELENA CEAUSESCU: The terrorists are from Securitate. All strategic points in the country were said to be under the control of the people. They cultivated the soil in line with your orders and had nothing to eat. A little noticed article in the, notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. This is a vulgar provocation. However, there is a difference between real sickness that must be treated and mental insanity which leads to corresponding actions, but which is denied by the person in question. PROSECUTOR: So you know the new forum. I ask the court, as the plaintiff, to take note that proof has been furnished for all these points, that the two have committed the offenses mentioned. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. Bucharests Broadcasting House was the main source of information yesterday for Romanians about the countrys liberation and the means by which politicians, military officers and dissidents tried to influence the situation. I am talking to you as simple citizens at the least, as simple citizens, and I tell you: I am the president of Romania. If he no longer has a certain function, he cannot demand anything at all. A lie, a lie in my face. However, he had badly misread the crowd's mood. I am now talking to you as simple citizens, and I hope that you will tell the truth. ELENA CEAUESCU: Incredible. Tip Jar or Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the Belmont Club. CEAUSESCU: Nu recunosc nici un tribunal in afara de Marea Adunare Nationala. Please make a note that here it has been stated that all legal regulations have been observed, that this is a legal trial. PROSECUTOR: By now, there have been 34 casualties. It can go on for a long time shedding parts, but eventually the axle falls out. Who are these fanatics? Watching the "Video of Ceausescu's Last Speech" on the Making the History of 1989 website, a speech which Nikolae Ceausescu made on 21 December 1989, I was curious to see what the disturbance was that so rattled Ceausescu because by the end of the speech it appears a semblance of order had returned. You were so impertinent as to cut off oxygen lines in hospitals and to shoot people in their hospital beds. Recent items of interest by Belmont readers based on Amazon click-throughs. For example, there isa silent falling away among American allies. Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Land of Green Plums, Mller, Herta at the best online prices at eBay! , the former US ambassador to Syria, has effectively accused the Obama administration of abandoning genuinely pro-American rebels in Syria thereby allowing the ascendance of al-Qaeda. However, they will be indicted, and a sentence will be passed on the basis of the new legal system. We want a legal trial. The History: Last Speech, Trial and Execution Decades of brutal oppression under the Ceausescu regime came to a head in Timisoara, earlier that same December. Not a single shot. The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. Sections in italic type are from Austrian television comentary: By 6 pm, Romanian television was broadcasting live reports of victory rallies attended by thousands in Bucharest. All their property will be impounded. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. From the archive, 23 December 1989: Celebration as a nation emerges from the dark, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Why do the peasants then buy their bread in Bucharest? Ceauescu appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee building and began as he had in years past, with a speech laden with the usual Marxist-Leninist wooden language. However, he had badly misread the crowds mood. PROSECUTOR: But not of our army, you are not the commander in chief of our army. I will not answer you putschists, Ceausescu says. PROSECUTOR: And who heads Securitate? Only a president who is still confirmed in his position can demand to speak at the Grand National Assembly. Their son, Nicu, was shown on television under arrest. These two defendants have robbed the people, and not even today do they want to talk. You held monologues and the people had to applaud, like in the rituals of tribal people. The prosecutor agrees, but stresses that they lived in them while the people suffered. "Stenographic transcript of meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party," August 17, 1968, History . You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. PROSECUTOR: In all district capitals, which you grandly called municipalities, there is shooting going on. In 1947, we assumed power, but under completely different circumstances. Do you want to sign this statement? They were only busy enslaving the people and building up an apparatus of power. You should have stayed in Iran where you had flown to. CEAUSESCU: No one recognizes that.