Colectiv victims commemorated 7 years after the tragedy

The victims of the tragedy at Colectiv were commemorated, Sunday evening, in front of the club, where more than 120 people lit candles and laid flowers 7 years after the fire that killed 65 people.

At the event organized by “Geeks For Democracy”, “Corruption Kills” and “Romania Initiative”, images were exhibited with the story of those who lost their lives in the fire in the “Colectiv” club 7 years ago. Survivors of the Colectiv tragedy were among those present at the demonstration.

Afterwards, the participants went to the Prosecutor’s Office next to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, in front of which they left the images and stories of those who died in “Colectiv”.

“We are commemorating 7 years since the incident at Colectiv and at the same time it is also a manifesto through which we must not forget that some young people went to a club with their friends on a Friday night and were killed by the bureaucracy, by the corruption in Romania and the Romanian medical system (…) Later, 7 years later, things are the same. (…) Through the convictions from April-May this year, the Colectiv file was not resolved (…) there are several files“, declared the president of the Geeks for Democracy Association, Marian Rădună.

He warned that this tragedy can be repeated at any time in Romania. “We are sounding the alarm that we need to be safe not only in hospitals, not only in clubs, anywhere, and if we are not safe, and nobody does their job, it is the Prosecutor’s Office’s job,” added Marian Rădună.

Angi Şerban, vice-president of the “Corruption kills” organization, pointed out that this commemoration aims to prevent a tragedy of this kind from happening again. “The reason why we still come out to commemorate is so that we don’t forget what happened and that the political decision-makers also don’t forget and that a tragedy like this doesn’t happen again. (…) Our organization also demands fire protection legislation. (…) We want the guilty to be punished, because from our point of view it is only half the job done, the big political decision-makers were not punished, apart from Piedone (…) many others are also well done, including heads of hospitals and so on”, explained Angi Şerban.

In her turn, Diana Voicu, president of the “Romania Initiative”, is of the opinion that the victims from Colectiv represent “symbols”, the reason why entire generations have created civic movements. “We are 7 years behind the Colectiv only with files that are not resolved”, Diana Voicu said.

The tragic event on the evening of October 30, 2015 at the Colectiv club in Bucharest happened while the band Goodbye to Gravity was playing the concert to launch a new album. The fire that broke out during the concert due to some fireworks spread quickly.

Apart from the 65 people who died – some on the spot, others after a while, due to nosocomial infections acquired in hospitals -, more than 160 people were injured. About 300 people attended the concert, and subsequent investigations determined that no safety rules were established or followed.

Seven years after the tragedy in Colectiv, Romania does not have a single center for the treatment of major burns. The Government’s plans are far from what we need. There is talk of new beds in several hospitals in the country and it is possible that the number of places will increase, from the current 34, to 60.

The year 2022 brought the final sentence in the Colectiv file. Among the convicts, the mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone, who was sent behind bars for the next 4 years, and the owners of the Colectiv club received sentences between 6 years and almost 12 years. But the file investigating what happened after the 2015 tragedy, how the victims were treated and how many of those who went died from hospital-acquired infections, the dust settles over this file. It is still in the works at the General Prosecutor’s Office.