Nicu Ceausescu Guilty, Gets 20 Years : Romania: The deposed dictator’s son is convicted of instigation to murder in the bloody December revolt.

A military court today convicted Nicu Ceausescu, the youngest son of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, of instigation to murder stemming from the use of deadly force against anti- government protesters during Romania’s December uprising.

Nicu Ceausescu, 39, sat impassively as a judge read the verdict and immediately sentenced him to 20 years in prison. A playboy and gambler who lived in high style while his father was in power, he now suffers from a liver disease and appeared pale and gaunt in the courtroom.

The military tribunal in Bucharest also banned Ceausescu from public office for 10 years after his prison term ends and ordered him to pay the equivalent of $260 in court costs.

There were angry murmurs in the courtroom when the judge said Ceausescu would be given back his personal possessions, trappings of his wealth confiscated after his father was overthrown and executed.

Defense lawyer Paula Jacob said Ceausescu would appeal.

Ceausescu was accused of ordering security troops to fire on anti-government demonstrators during the December uprising in Sibiu, where he was Communist Party boss. About 90 people died during the clashes in Sibiu, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in the revolution.

In its unanimous sentence, the five-member panel of judges dropped the original charge of complicity in genocide and instead found Ceausescu guilty of instigation to murder.

During the trial, Ceausescu admitted telling security officials in Sibiu to use force against protesters but said he made the remark while drunk and later retracted it.

His lawyer maintained that Ceausescu had a falling out with his father in the last years of his rule and tried to persuade the elder Ceausescu to soften his hard-line policies.

The court agreed to a third medical examination of Ceausescu, who is also recovering from stab wounds suffered during his arrest. Two earlier examinations reached contradictory conclusions on whether he could tolerate jail conditions.

Other members of the family still face trial over alleged financial crimes committed during the elder Ceausescu’s years in power.