Four officers from Romania's intelligence services (SRI) are facing charges for allegedly beating a suspect to death last year. The three Captains and Lieutenant Colonel Camelia Maria Toman from Timis county stand accused of killing a man apparently caught attempting to steal scrap metal from a military facility. The four will be tried by a military court in Timisoara and could receive 15 year prison sentences if found guilty.

The three captains involved gave the old Nazi war crimes line, telling local news service Ziua de Vest that they were only obeying orders. The Ziua de Vest story makes shocking reading: three men searching for scrap in what they thought was an abandoned facility were caught by the SRI officers guarding the area and were questioned and beaten. The commanding officer Camelia Maria Toman reportedly said “beat him, kill him, bury him in the backyard, no one will find him,” during the brutal 'interrogation' on October 27 last year.

Ziua de Vest goes on to say that after one of the men searching for scrap metal, Vasile Nechilciuc fell down dead during the savage beating, Lieutenant Colonel Toman ordered his body to be removed from the site and the officers involved to keep the whole business secret. One of the officers apparently requested permission to call for medical assistance, but Toman “categorically refused,” instead Nechilciuc was returned to his place of residence, where the emergency services later found him dead.

According to the local news service, Timisoara's Forensics Institute recorded a verdict of violent death due to internal bleeding after thoracic-abdominal trauma with rib fractures and contusions. The story has been picked up by the Romanian national news services and appeared in the international press via an Associated Press story. According to AP, military prosecutor Radu Ilina said the trial will begin on November 29.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com