Romania's High Court of Cassation and Justice has sentenced Communist-era prison commander Alexandru Visinescu to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity. He is the first Romanian Communist torturer sent to trial in such a case.

The Court's sentence is final, which means that Visinescu, who is currently 91, will be incarcerated, according to Mediafax.

Alexandru Visinescu was the commander of Ramnicu Sarat prison between 1956 and 1963. In that period, under his command, the prisoners were subjected to beatings, hunger, and a lack of medical treatment.

The regime imposed by Visinescu in this prison was not ensuring the minimum conditions for long-term survival, giving that most of the prisoners had sentences of more than ten years.

“Thus, the prisoners’ death occurred after a slow but efficient process, in which they were tortured both physically and mentally,” according to the prosecutors.

Alexandru Visinescu’s trial started over a year ago. He has constantly denied the charges, saying he had just done his job.

Visinescu, 91, currently lives in Bucharest and has a pension of RON 3,200 (some EUR 720), which is more than the average net wage in Romania.

Romania had about 500,000 political prisoners under the Communist regime.

Last summer, the Court of Appeal also sentenced Visinescu at 20 years in prison, but the decision was not final. 

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com