Three men from Tajikistan are being investigated for vandalism after allegedly carving different symbols on three of the historic stones in the precincts of the Dacian fortress of Sarmizegetusa Regia. In their defense, the tourists claimed that they did not know that it was forbidden to engrave on the stones. The police opened up a criminal case against them.
The incident took place on Sunday, around 12:45. The three men of Tajik nationality, employees of a company in Deva, were visiting the Dacian fortress of Sarmizegetusa Regia. At one point, someone saw them scratching the stones in the Citadel and called 112.
“The Police of the Municipality of Orăștie were notified by the gendarmes of the Montan Grădiște Station regarding the fact that the gendarmes detected three men of Tajik nationality, suspected of having scrawled different signs, in the premises of the Dacian fortress Sarmizegetusa Regia. The operative team that went to the scene identified the three men and determined that they (employees of a commercial company from Deva), while they were in the Dacian fortress, scratched three stones in the fortress (the three men stated that they were in the area like tourists and did not know that they are not allowed to engrave the respective stones)”, announces IPJ Hunedoara.
“The site known as Grădiştea de Munte – Sarmizegetusa Regia (Orăştiora de Sus commune, Hunedoara county) is part of the complex of Dacian fortresses in the Orăştiei Mountains. It is the largest settlement known for the Dacian space, being spread out on a hill with a length of approximately 4.5 km. From the overlapping of archaeological data and ancient written sources it appears that, starting from the second half of the 1st century BC, here was the capital of the Dacian kingdom (most likely, the first capital of the kingdom established de Burebista was in Costeşti – Cetătăuie, after which, during the mentioned period, this role fell to Sarmizegetusa Regia.) It is certain that, for almost a century and a half, Grădiştea de Munte – Sarmizegetusa Regia was the main political, religious, economic and military of the Dacian world“, it is stated on the website of the Dacian fortress Sarmizegetusa Regia.