Radio România Internațional

Tag: Jiu Valley

  • The case of the 1990 miners’ raids in court

    The case of the 1990 miners’ raids in court

    It took almost 28 years for the big case of the miners’ raids of June 13-15, 1990, maybe the grimmest episode in Romania’s post-Communist era, to be tried in court. Charged with crimes against humanity are, among others, high ranking officials of that time, the then president Ion Iliescu, the former PM Petre Roman, a former deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu and the former director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Virgil Magureanu.




    Military prosecutors claim that the state authorities orchestrated a violent attack against the protesters in the University Square in Bucharest, who were peacefully expressing their political opinions, which were opposed to those of the leftwing power, voted in the May 1990 elections.




    After the brutal evacuation of protesters on June 13, there followed two days when the Jiu Valley miners, called by the then president Ion Iliescu to defend the endangered democracy, bludgeoned the protesters to re-establish social order.




    According to prosecutors, involved in those raids, alongside the miners, were forces of the interior ministry, of the defense ministry and of the Intelligence Service as well as workers from several areas of the country, which was a profoundly illegal act. The violent intervention of those forces had a grim result: 4 people shot dead, as many as 1,400 injured and 1,250 deprived of the fundamental right to freedom.




    Moreover, the University building was vandalized just like the headquarters of the opposition parties and of the independent newspapers. The message the then president Ion Iliescu addressed to miners is quite eloquent about the way the authorities managed the events, quote: “I thank you all, once again, for what you have again proved to be these days. You have proved to be a powerful force, with a high level of working and civic discipline, trustworthy people in good or bad times” the then president Ion Iliescu said.




    For many, the opening of the miners’ raids case, last summer, 8 years after it was closed, is largely the result of the pressure exerted on Romania by the European Court of Human Rights. According to commentators, the miners’ raids of June 1990 marred Romania’s image abroad, as it dispelled the wave of sympathy Romania attracted after the violent December 1989 uprising. The savage images of the Romanian miners’ aggression were seen by the entire world.




    On the other hand, postponing the trial of the miners’ raids for such a long time, and also the trial of the December 1989 revolution, shows that Romania is still far from having reconciled with its own past.


  • October 30, 2017 UPDATE

    October 30, 2017 UPDATE


    COLECTIV– It’s been two years since the devastating fire
    at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, which killed 64 people. Of them, 27 died on
    the night of the tragedy while the other 37 died later in hospitals in
    Bucharest and abroad. Hundreds of people participated on Friday evening in a
    march in Romania’s capital, commemorating the victims. Many people hoped that
    the ones responsible for this tragedy would be punished, but two years on
    nobody has been found guilty and the flaws in the system are still present.






    ACCIDENT– One miner was killed and another three were
    injured in an accident that took place at the Uricani mine on the Jiu Valley.
    The victims were doing some final works on the mine that is to be shut down
    soon. This is the second such accident on the Jiu Valley this month, after the
    one at the Lupeni mine that killed two miners and injured one. The Lupeni mine
    will be operational for another five years, according to a memorandum that
    Romania submitted to the European Commission.






    CATALONIA– The Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont might be
    arrested for rebellion, alongside other officials who helped Catalonia declare
    its independence from Spain. Hundreds of thousand of Spanish loyalists
    demonstrated in Barcelona on Sunday in support of Madrid’s decision to impose
    direct rule on Catalonia. The protest took place after Catalan MPs voted in
    favour of declaring independence from Spain, prompting Mariano Rajoy, the
    Spanish prime minister, to sack the separatist Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont
    and his government, dissolve the Catalan parliament and call regional elections
    for December 21.






    MINISTRY– The Ministry
    for the Romanians Abroad is closely monitoring the situation of the over 130
    thousand Romanians in Catalonia, in the context of the recent events in that Spanish region, the Ministry says in a release. The Ministry recommends
    Romanian citizens in the region to get in touch with the Romanian authorities,
    in case their security is threatened. Also, Romanian citizens are urged to
    inform the Romanian diplomatic missions of any situation that might affect
    their work and their relation with local institutions and authorities. The
    Ministry reiterates the fact that Bucharest firmly and irrevocably
    rejects Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence and voices full
    support for Spain’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the hope
    that the situation in the Spanish region will soon revert to constitutional
    order.






    CONFERENCE– All EU states must collaborate closely
    to achieve solid cyber security, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and
    Society Mariya Gabriel said on Monday in Bucharest, at the 7th annual
    international conference titled The New Global Challenges in Cyber Security.
    During her 2-day visit to Romania, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will hold talks with Romanian authorities on issues
    such as illegal online content and digital investment.






    US INVESTIGATION – The former campaign manager of the US President Donald Trump,
    Paul Manafort, was indicted on Monday, following an investigation into Russia’s involvement in
    the November 2016 presidential elections. One of Manafort’s associates, Rick
    Gates, is also facing charges. Among other things, Paul Manafort is accused of
    conspiracy against the US, money laundering, false statements to the federal
    authorities and failure to declare some foreign accounts. Aged 68, he managed
    Trump’s campaign until August 2016, when he was forced to resign, following
    disclosures about his ties with pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs. The US
    President has denied any alleged
    connections with Russia, and the Kremlin has also denied such ties.
    According to the US Secret Service, the Russian President Vladimir Putin commissioned
    a campaign to influence the outcome of the presidential elections in the US for
    the benefit of Donald Trump, also with the aim of undermining the western
    liberal-democratic system.












    TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Simona Halep continues
    to be world number one for the fourth week in a row. Halep, who has just
    received the year-end WTA World No. 1 Trophy, has an advance of 40 points as to
    world no. two, Garbine Muguruza and is 160 points ahead of the third place,
    Caroline Wozniacki. Another three Romanians who are part of the WTA top 100
    maintain their current position – Sorana Cirstea no. 37, Irina Begu No. 44 and
    Monica Niculescu, nr. 100. Mihaela Buzarnescu went up 17 places and is now no.
    72 WTA.



  • Mining accident in Jiu Valley

    Mining accident in Jiu Valley


    Each time mining accidents occur in Romania, the entire country comes to a standstill and watches breathlessly on TV the rescue operations, hoping that no victims will be announced. Unfortunately, on Thursday, a mining gallery collapsed at the coal mine in Lupeni, in the Jiu Valley, killing one miner and wounding another two, out of a team of 11. The rescue operations lasted for 15 hours and the rescuers worked in very difficult conditions, as the area was highly unstable because of the rocks. Ambulances and helicopters of the emergency rescue service SMURD arrived at the site.



    The members of the three miners families and their colleagues, who were eagerly waiting for news from the underground, were joined by the Energy Minister Toma Petcu. The latter announced several investigations were started and a criminal file was opened in relation to this work accident, in an attempt to establish the causes of the event and to identify possible guilt. Toma Petcu:


    “We expect the Territorial Work Inspectorate and the Prosecutors Office to come up with the results of their investigations. Well conduct our own investigation and will make public the results only after the two aforementioned bodies have announced their own results.”



    One of the miners wives complained about the very low salaries of this professional category, miners being faced with big dangers when going in the underground galleries. Admitting that mining is a job involving lots of risks, the father of a miner who participated in the rescue operations said that Romanian miners were working in awful conditions, worse than those in which slaves had once worked.



    Trade unionists, in their turn, blame the lack of labor safety and criticize the deplorable state of the galleries as well as the old equipment and installations used in the mining process. They also blame the current situation in Lupeni on the plan to close down the coalface where the collapse occurred, the Lupeni mine being one of the two unprofitable mining exploitations in the Jiu Valley scheduled to be shut down by the end of 2018. In the past 10 years, several plans to close down mining exploitations in the Jiu Valley have been launched but have never been completed, leading to a record number of serious mining accidents caused by gallery collapses or underground explosions.



    As to the history of the Jiu Valley mining area, for more than 150 years since the opening of the first mining exploitation in 1859 in Petrila, billions of tons of coal have been extracted.


    (Translated by Lacramioara Simion)




  • Hydro-technical construction, a danger for the Jiu Gorges

    Hydro-technical construction, a danger for the Jiu Gorges


    The Jiu Gorges National park is one of the most spectacular protected areas in Romania. It stretches along the valley dug by the River Jiu into the mountain, between the Parang and Valcan massifs, and covers over 11,000 hectares. 80% of the area, of a remarkably rich biodiversity, is mainly covered by beech and sessile oak, as well as by hornbeam and she tree forests. Experts have identified over 700 species of plants and over 440 species of animals, some of them protected by law. All these, however, have been and will continue to be affected by hydro-technical works which will abstract water from the River Jiu and channel it through huge pipes towards the power plant, thus irreversibly damaging the fauna and flora in the area.



    Biologist Calin Dejeu from Cluj-Napoca has got involved for years in saving mountain rivers and continues to make sustained efforts to try to stop these damaging works.


    “This National Park is the most spectacular in the country. It is an immense wild and heterogeneous region. The area is mainly covered by spruce tree forests at higher, colder altitudes, and is also home thermophile species like Fraxinus ornus, which grow in the far end of the gorges. The area is breathtakingly beautiful due to the primeval forests on the slopes, lots of spectacular rocks and cliffs and, in particular,the cataracts of the River Jiu. The flora is rich and diverse including over 17 species. Juniper and many orchid species grow in the alpine hollows. The fauna is also rich and includes a wide variety of animals. The area is home to 11 species of amphibians such as the salamander, reptiles, such as the horned viper and 135 bird species. Actually, this is a bird migration corridor for eagles, big owls, black storks and in some winters, dwarf cormorants. That it why the hydro-technical project will affect many species. We cant even imagine or estimate how big the impact will be. Even the dwarf cormorant will be affected by the disappearance of water. At least 13 fish species live in the River Jiu, but no one knows exactly how many are actually living in the river.”



    The River Jiu is also the best river in Romania for those who like rafting. Ecologists say that after the hydro-power plant has been built, the flow of the river will be of 20 cubic meters per second upon entering the gorges and of only 2.7 cubic meters per second upon exiting the gorges. Calin Dejeu has filed a complaint, a petition signed by over 20,000 people who call for abandoning the project and notified the European Court of the illegality of the project.



    Here is the history of the project:


    ” Works began in 2004. Fortunately, their progress was quite slow and up until 2012 they managed to implement only 45% of the project. Then, fortunately, Hidroelectrica was declared insolved and works were halted until 2016. Unfortunately, instead of enforcing the environment legislation so that the Jiu river could be saved, we “strike it lucky” with financial or other problems that Hidroelectrica has been faced with. In 2005, when the area was officially granted the National Park status, any such work ought to have been stopped, as its totally incompatible with the National Park status. In any other country around the world, national parks are sacred, youre not allowed to touch nature, let alone destroy a park completely, with the support of that countrys government. Nothing like that has ever been seen in this world. It is a shame, and a national tragedy. For the time being, destructions have occurred on a limited scale, around the building yards. The great disaster will occur when they finish work and deflect the Jiu rivers flow in the tunnel. There is a complete disaster around the building yards. They made access roads, they dynamited the land, they logged forest trees…it looks ghastly. “



    In Romania, over 450 micro hydro-powerplants are in various stages of construction or functioning, many of them lying right at the heart of some of the areas registered as part of the Natura 2000 European network. With details on that, here is biologist Calin Dejeu again:


    “Anywhere we look on the map of the Carpathians, we can see rivers are destroyed by big dams with lateral adductions drying all the rivers in the region, or by micro hydro-powerplants. There are only several rivers or small river segments left. The tributary of the eastern Jiu river, the Jiet, has been completely dried by the Hidroelectrica s water intakes. The entire water volume flows under the mountain into the Lotru river. Its natural flow has not been restored up until this day. Even the Capra river on the Transfagarasan has been captured in pipes and the Capra water fall has dried out.”



    In November 2013, the World Wild Fund Romania publicly raised the issue of the impending necessity to come up with a legal document capable of protecting the rivers in the Carpathians. A campaign was launched, themed “Mountain rivers: the last chance” as well as a petition addressed to the authorities to come up a set of measures that would save Romanias precious rivers.





  • Issues facing miners in the Jiu Valley

    Issues facing miners in the Jiu Valley

    The employees of the Lupeni mine refuse
    to go into the mines. Radio Romania’s correspondent in the Jiu Valley says the
    roots of the protest lie in the unprecedented crisis the Hunedoara Energy
    Complex has been going through. Not even basic stuff needed in the underground
    can be purchased anymore, because of the difficult financial problems facing
    the complex. Miners fear they might lose their jobs and would like to receive a
    concrete program regarding either the
    continuation of their mining activities or the closing down of the mines.


    We have been lied to all the time, either about insolvency or
    about getting awards, and this can no longer continue. We have been humiliated
    to an incredible extent. If the activity can’t continue, we are going home. We
    are neither the first nor the last to lose their jobs. Let’s establish once for
    all what should be done, but we should be all aware of what’s going on.


    The protesters
    call for the resignation of the current management, whom they blame for
    incompetence. They are particularly discontent with the conduct of the deputy
    director Petru Nica, a
    former trade union leader until the autumn of 2016, whom they accuse of trying
    to intimidate the miners and of threatening them with lay offs if they do not
    resume their activity. The protests staged by the trade unions come shortly
    after the European Commission approved the allotment of approximately 100
    million Euro by the Romanian state for the closing down of the Lupeni mine and of another loss making
    coal mine in the Jiu Valley, Lonea.

    More than half of the money will be spent on workers, who will receive
    severance payment and will benefit from professional reconversion programs, as
    well as on a number of activities needed in the underground, to rehabilitate
    the region and to return the land to agriculture. This is only an episode in
    the long agony of the Romanian mining industry. Enjoying a privileged status
    during the communist dictatorship, for both pragmatic and ideological reasons,
    the mining industry assures the vitality of the energy-consuming economy. A
    polluting and loss making sector, the mining industry started to lose ground in
    the mid 1990’s, when the first mines were closed down.