Ex-President Traian Basescu, Securitate collaborator, Bucharest Court of Appeal rules

Bucharest Court of Appeal has ruled on Friday that ex-president Traian Basescu had collaborated with Securitate, the former Romanian political police. The ruling is not final yet.

The former head of state retorted he will challenge the verdict to a supreme court.

“It is a decision ruled by a judge, I can only challenge it legally, as a person who endorsed the construction of the judiciary system. So, I will appeal it to the High Court. I said I had not collaborated with Securitate, for I know what I did. I don’t think what I did can be labelled as collaboration with Securitate, especially we are talking about documents from the Military Navy. The institution that was managing us was the Military Counterintelligence, I admit, at 21 I had no idea the Counterintelligence was part of Securitate“, Basescu told Digi24.

He underlined he is sure he had no illegal relation with the former communist political police.

According to the civil action filed by College of the National Council for Studying Securitate Archives (CNSAS) in court to establish if former president Traian Basescu has collaborated with the Securitate, the former communist political police, the former head of state would have snitched his colleagues and would have maintained the relation with Securitate as support person until near the fall of the communist regime.

During the last court hearing, Traian Băsescu denied his relation with Securitate. “I won’t comment on the trial. I have to defend myself. CNSAS and me have totally different stances, the judge will rule,” Traian Băsescu used to say.

The former Romanian head of state added that a potential ruling against him will affect his image. Asked if he was a Securitate collaborator, he replied: “No, I have always stated that no”.