Ilie Ceausescu, 76; Defense Official in Brother’s Regime
Ilie Ceausescu, 76, who served as a deputy defense minister under Nicolae Ceausescu, his older brother and Romania’s late communist dictator, died Tuesday in Bucharest of complications from pneumonia.
In 1990, the Washington Post reported that Ceausescu and his brother had sold advanced Soviet military technology to the United States.
Born in the village of Scornicesti in southern Romania, he pursued a political and military career aided by his older brother, who ruled Romania from 1965 to 1989. The elder Ceausescu was executed with his wife, Elena, during the 1989 revolt that toppled communism.
Ilie Ceausescu was a deputy defense minister from 1982 to 1989 and a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee from 1980 to 1989. He retired from public life after the revolt.
About 200 mourners gathered for Ceausescu’s funeral Thursday at the Ghencea military cemetery in Bucharest.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
