Ceausescu’s Son, Nicu, Is Convicted, Gets 20 Years

A military tribunal on Friday sentenced Nicu Ceausescu, the youngest son of the former Romanian dictator, to a 20-year prison term for his actions during the revolution that toppled his father.

In its unanimous sentence, the five-member panel of judges dropped the original charge of complicity in genocide and instead found the 39-year-old Ceausescu guilty of “instigation to murder.”

Ceausescu, who was Communist Party leader in the southern Transylvanian town of Sibiu, was accused in connection with 89 deaths there during the December revolution that toppled his father, Nicolae Ceausescu. His father and mother, Elena, were executed last Dec. 25.

Nicu Ceausescu had pleaded innocent to the genocide charge but guilty to a charge of illegally possessing firearms. The military tribunal found him guilty of the firearms charge and sentenced him to five years in prison, to be served concurrently with the 20-year term for what the court called “instigation to murder.”

He was also stripped of the right to vote and hold public office for 10 years, and ordered to pay the state’s legal fees of $250.

Ceausescu said he will appeal the conviction. His attorney, Paula Iacob, told reporters she is confident she can “prove him innocent.” The appeal must be submitted within 10 days.

“He is an innocent man,” she said. “His misfortune was having the name Ceausescu.”

Four top officials of Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime, including Communist Party Secretary Emil Bobu, earlier had been found guilty of genocide. They were sentenced to life in prison. Their appeals were rejected.