June 1990 Mineriad - Inquiry Into Potential Involvement of The Romanian Intelligence Service

Inquiry Into Potential Involvement of The Romanian Intelligence Service

Later inquiries would show that these claims by the miners were not unfounded. Rumors and public suspicion (and later Parliamentary inquiries) of the potential role of the Serviciul Român de Informaţii (Romanian Intelligence Service), the successor to the former Securitate), in the instigation and manipulation of the June 1990 Mineriad contributed to the widespread public mistrust of the post-Ceauşescu Romanian intelligence service.

Government inquiries would show that the miners had indeed been "joined by vigilantes who were later credibly identified as former officers of the Securitate", and that for two days, the miners had been aided and abetted by former Securitate members in their violent confrontation with the protesters and other targets. In February 1994 a Bucharest court "found two security officers, Colonel Ion. Nicolae and warrant officer Corneliu Dumitrescu, guilty of ransacking the house of Ion Raţiu, a leading figure in the National Peasant Christian Democratic Party, during the miners’ incursion, and stealing $100,000."

In addition to accusations of having agents infiltrate and incite the opposition rally in 18 February 1990 and later directly participate in the June 1990 anti-opposition violence involving the Jiu Valley miners, there was also evidence that during this period that the Service was involved in distributing fake Legionary leaflets that claimed a fascist take-over in Romania was about to occur, and evidence that intelligence officials selectively released documents from Securitate archives in order to compromise opposition leaders.

According to a research report put out by the Conflict Studies Research Centre at Britain's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst:

Despite repeated denials by its leaders, there are clear indications of the SRI's involvement. Recently, Voican Voiculescu even accused Magureanu of having staged the violence in order to take over as prime minister. Other sources claim that the miners' arrival in Bucharest was orchestrated by Major Dumitru Iliescu (now a colonel), the chief of President Iliescu's Special Guard and Protocol Unit (renamed the Protection and Protocol Service in July 1991).

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