Former president of the National Peasant's Party and Romanian anti-communist symbol Ion Diaconescu died on Tuesday. He was 94. Diaconescu, who was imprisoned for 17 years by the comunists for his political beliefs, had withdrawn from the political scene after his wife died last year.

Earlier this year, he told his fellow members of the National Peasants' Party (PNTCD) that the party was on a blind alley, without a legitimate leadership, and the one who should relaunch the party on the political scene was Victor Ciorbea, a former Prime Minister.

Diaconescu was speaker of the Parliament's Chamber of Deputies from 1996 to 2000.

editor@romania-insider.com