Halfway down the Danube

Miron Cosma and his friend

From @rgumente, Dragos' excellent blog:

[..] Well, in 1999 Miron Cozma tried the same trick since the newly appointed government was taking restructuring economic measures with respect to mines. Remember that Iliescu was in opposition at that time. So Cosma took his miners and marched to Bucharest threatening to do the similar things he did in 1990 and 1991. Well, it didn't work out - Radu Vasile, the PM at that time, met him somewhere at half of the road and calmed him down. And he then asked the Justice to take action. The result: Cosma and the other leaders were imprisoned for some 18 years.

Now, surprise, surprise: this morning Iliescu uses his presidential power to release Miron Cosma from prison. I think it is an outrageous thing, but Iliescu has debts to pay, and he does pay them in the very last moment. This is Iliescu - the guy who harmed Romania perhaps more than anybody else in the last 15 years, because what he did and what could have done and hadnot.

It's sad and upsetting and, oh. Read the whole thing here.

UPDATE I've also written on Fistful of Euros on this.

Posted by claudia at December 16, 2004 05:36 PM