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Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu (3 March 1930 – 5 August 2025) was a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the first and third President of Romania since the country's transition to democracy, from 1990 to 1996 and 2000 to 2004. Iliescu was also a senator for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which he founded and where he became the honorary president for the rest of his life.
Iliescu joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1953 and became a member of its Central Committee in 1965. Beginning with 1971, he was gradually marginalised by Nicolae Ceaușescu. He had a leading role in the Romanian Revolution, becoming the country's president in December 1989. In May 1990, he became Romania's first freely elected head of state. After a new constitution was approved by popular referendum, he served a further two terms, firstly from 1992 to 1996 and then secondly from 2000 to 2004, separated by the presidency of Emil Constantinescu, who defeated him in 1996.
In 2004, during his presidency, Romania joined NATO. In April 2018, Iliescu was charged in Romania with committing crimes against humanity by "approving military measures, some of which had an evidently diversionary character" during the deadly aftermath of the country's 1989 revolution. In 2020, a judge rejected the case due to irregularities in the indictment. The indictment was remade; in 2023, the Court of Appeals approved a trial for it. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living president of Romania.
Ion Iliescu was born on 3 March 1930 in Oltenița, a city in the Muntenia region of the Kingdom of Romania. He was the son of Alexandru Iliescu (1901–1945) and Maria Dumitru Toma. His mother, of Roma origin, abandoned him when he was one year old and married another man.
His father was a railroad worker, trade unionist and member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), which was illegal at the time. In 1931, he represented the party at the 5th PCR Congress held in Gorikovo, near Moscow, but did not return to Romania until 1935. In 1937, he was arrested for his political activism, which was considered subversive. He served his sentence in Jilava prison (in 1939) and in the labour camps of Caracal and Târgu Jiu (from June 1940 to August 1944), where he came into conflict with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who expelled him from the party. In 1940, he married Maria P. Iliescu, with whom he had two children, Crișan and Mihai Alexandru Iliescu died in 1945, when Ion was fifteen years old.
His paternal grandfather, Vasili Ivanovici, was a Bolshevik Jew who fled the Russian Empire because he was persecuted by the Tsarist authorities. Around 1895, he settled in Oltenița and changed his name to Iliescu. He had four children (Alexandru, Eftimie, Aristița and Verginia).
Ion Iliescu was raised by his paternal grandparents and stepmother, and in 1939 he was adopted by his aunt Aristița, a cook at the residence of communist activist Ana Pauker, who helped him study in the Soviet Union. During the years of the regime, he was often accompanied to official events by his stepmother, while details about his natural mother were only revealed in the 1990s.
Ion Iliescu studied fluid mechanics at the Bucharest Polytechnic Institute and then as a foreign student at Moscow Power Engineering Institute. During his stay in Moscow, he was the secretary of the "Association of Romanian Students"; it is alleged that he met Mikhail Gorbachev, although Iliescu always denied this. However, years later, president Nicolae Ceaușescu probably believed that there was a connection between the two, since during Gorbachev's visit to Romania in July 1989, Iliescu was sent outside of Bucharest to prevent any contact.
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Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu (3 March 1930 – 5 August 2025) was a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the first and third President of Romania since the country's transition to democracy, from 1990 to 1996 and 2000 to 2004. Iliescu was also a senator for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which he founded and where he became the honorary president for the rest of his life.
Iliescu joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1953 and became a member of its Central Committee in 1965. Beginning with 1971, he was gradually marginalised by Nicolae Ceaușescu. He had a leading role in the Romanian Revolution, becoming the country's president in December 1989. In May 1990, he became Romania's first freely elected head of state. After a new constitution was approved by popular referendum, he served a further two terms, firstly from 1992 to 1996 and then secondly from 2000 to 2004, separated by the presidency of Emil Constantinescu, who defeated him in 1996.
In 2004, during his presidency, Romania joined NATO. In April 2018, Iliescu was charged in Romania with committing crimes against humanity by "approving military measures, some of which had an evidently diversionary character" during the deadly aftermath of the country's 1989 revolution. In 2020, a judge rejected the case due to irregularities in the indictment. The indictment was remade; in 2023, the Court of Appeals approved a trial for it. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living president of Romania.
Ion Iliescu was born on 3 March 1930 in Oltenița, a city in the Muntenia region of the Kingdom of Romania. He was the son of Alexandru Iliescu (1901–1945) and Maria Dumitru Toma. His mother, of Roma origin, abandoned him when he was one year old and married another man.
His father was a railroad worker, trade unionist and member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), which was illegal at the time. In 1931, he represented the party at the 5th PCR Congress held in Gorikovo, near Moscow, but did not return to Romania until 1935. In 1937, he was arrested for his political activism, which was considered subversive. He served his sentence in Jilava prison (in 1939) and in the labour camps of Caracal and Târgu Jiu (from June 1940 to August 1944), where he came into conflict with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who expelled him from the party. In 1940, he married Maria P. Iliescu, with whom he had two children, Crișan and Mihai Alexandru Iliescu died in 1945, when Ion was fifteen years old.
His paternal grandfather, Vasili Ivanovici, was a Bolshevik Jew who fled the Russian Empire because he was persecuted by the Tsarist authorities. Around 1895, he settled in Oltenița and changed his name to Iliescu. He had four children (Alexandru, Eftimie, Aristița and Verginia).
Ion Iliescu was raised by his paternal grandparents and stepmother, and in 1939 he was adopted by his aunt Aristița, a cook at the residence of communist activist Ana Pauker, who helped him study in the Soviet Union. During the years of the regime, he was often accompanied to official events by his stepmother, while details about his natural mother were only revealed in the 1990s.
Ion Iliescu studied fluid mechanics at the Bucharest Polytechnic Institute and then as a foreign student at Moscow Power Engineering Institute. During his stay in Moscow, he was the secretary of the "Association of Romanian Students"; it is alleged that he met Mikhail Gorbachev, although Iliescu always denied this. However, years later, president Nicolae Ceaușescu probably believed that there was a connection between the two, since during Gorbachev's visit to Romania in July 1989, Iliescu was sent outside of Bucharest to prevent any contact.