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February 2, 2004 — Memorandum for His Excellency Michael Guest, United States Ambassador to Romania.
In October 2003, the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF) submitted a written statement to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe at a briefing entitled "Romania: Moving Toward NATO and the EU." The following is an update of that document and offers an overview of the current, chief shortcomings in instituting genuine respect for the rights of Romania's 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians.
1. Obstructing Freedom of Expression and Association: Unlawful Harassment of Advocates for Regional Autonomy
The Székely National Council (SzNC) and the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (HNCT) were formed in October and December 2003, respectively, to encourage public debate on the vital questions of internal self-determination, local democracy and self-administration for the Hungarian minority. Romanian authorities responded swiftly by instituting police surveillance, conducting illegal detentions and otherwise harassing adherents of the two, entirely legal, avowedly law-abiding entities. At the same time, Romanian public officials, including the President, the Prime Minister, government ministers, the governing political party and all variety of administrative bodies and ultra-nationalist political entities, unleashed a barrage of invective, deliberately distorting the facts, misleading the public as to the intentions of the Hungarian community, and threatening further "legal" action.
Although these organizations function in full accord with the Romanian Constitution and Resolution 1334/2003 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Positive Experiences of Autonomous Regions as a Source of Inspiration for Conflict Resolution in Europe, the authorities are conducting a rigorous intimidation campaign in an effort to criminalize the constitutionally guaranteed right of every citizen of Romania to free speech.
On October 9, 2003 police stopped the car of Imre Fodor, the Deputy Mayor of Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely and an ethnic Hungarian, in the village of Sangeorgiu de Padure/Erdőszentgyörgy, Mures/Maros County. After opening the car trunk, which contained posters of the Székely National Council, Mr. Fodor was detained and taken to the local police station. The unlawful intrusion and detention were followed by three hours of interrogation by Colonel Anca, Deputy Commissioner of the Mures County Police, and Marius Calin Stefanescu, Prosecutor from the Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely Court of Appeals.
On the same day, two other SzNC supporters were also interrogated by police. Árpád Andrássy, President of the Ludus/Marosludas branch of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR), and Lajos Márton, member of the Civic Association of Hungarians, were detained in Targu Mures while posting invitations to the founding meeting of the Targu Mures branch of the Council. The next day harassment continued: the Sovata/Szováta police searched the car of András Tőkés, member of the Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely city council (and brother of autonomy-advocate Bishop László Tőkés). Finding SzNC posters in the car, the officers took Mr. Tőkés to the police station where he refused to give a written statement. On the same day, police confiscated SzNC leaflets about to be distributed by Szilárd Madaras in Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós.
In an October 13 interview with the Romanian-language daily Evenimentul Zilei, Dan Petru, Chief Prosecutor of the Mures County Court of Appeals, threatened that Fodor, Andrássy and Tőkés faced charges of "disturbing the constitutional order," punishable by 5-15 years imprisonment.
This pattern of intimidation and harassment elicited protests by domestic human rights advocates. Smaranda Enache, co-chair of the Targu Mures-based Pro Europa League, told reporters that Fodor had been the victim of ethnic discrimination and the League would report the case at various international fora. On October 21, 2003 DAHR Parliamentarian Zsolt Szilágyi lodged a petition with the appropriate government body, the so-called "National Council against Discrimination (NCAD)," to which he annexed a report by Romanian human rights advocate Gabriel Andreescu. In its December 4 reply, the NCAD alleged that the events did not fall within its jurisdiction and the file would be forwarded elsewhere. Szilágyi then filed an appeal against the NCAD decision with the Bucharest Court of Appeals — which has failed to respond to date.
Meanwhile, invectives on the part of various officials and public figures have continued unrelenting since the Fall. On January 21, 2004, the country's "Supreme Defense Council" issued a statement claiming that a bill on autonomy drafted by the SzNT for the predominantly Hungarian-inhabited region, Székelyföld, is "unconstitutional." Romanian President Ion Iliescu admitted to reporters that it will be up to Parliament to decide the fate of the bill, which has not even been submitted yet to that body. Nevertheless, according to Iliescu, the Council felt obligated to "set the tone" in this question.
Hindering the freedom of association and suppressing decentralization and local democracy is not restricted to ethnic minority aspirations. The Romanian government's commitment to these democratic principles has been seriously called into question by the banning of political parties dedicated to these principles. A case in point is the fate of the multi-ethnic Transylvania-Banat League, founded on March 23, 2002 by an ethnic Romanian, Sabin Gherman. On February 3, 2003, the Bucharest Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the League against a recent Bucharest Court decision which had refused to register the organization as a political party. The court alleged that the organization's support for European regionalism "undermined the Romanian nation-state," and objected to the fact that its insignia contained the stars of the European Union's emblem.
2. Denying the Symbols of Ethnic Identity: Duplicity and Unlawful Acts in Barring the Freedom Statue of Arad
Governmental dishonoring of the repeated pledge to re-erect an important Hungarian symbol — the Freedom Statue in the city of Arad — represents a current illustration of the deliberate polarization of ethnic communities and artificial heightening of tensions, central government action to overrule local decision-making, and a seemingly purposeful disruption of harmonious bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary.
Following months of restoration work, on October 5, 2003 the Freedom Statue — originally erected in 1890 to commemorate the 1848 Hungarian revolution against Austrian rule — was to be ceremoniously unveiled at Fireman's Square in the Western Transylvanian city of Arad. What should have been fulfillment of a reasonable and legitimate Hungarian community and local aspiration has instead resulted in the alienation of the Hungarian community and the escalation of domestic and bilateral tensions because of the Romanian leadership's subterfuge and backtracking.
Restoring the statue to its former dignity was a cherished desire of the Hungarian community since the 1989 overthrow of communism. Although already included in the 1998 Romanian-Hungarian Bilateral Agreement, it was in 2001 that the issue was included in the Cooperation Agreement between the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR). On November 26, 2002, the Arad City Council voted 2.2 billion Lei (approx. $66,000) to restore the statue and re-erect it at a central location. Meanwhile the Freedom Statue Society — a domestic NGO — began an international fundraising campaign, collected 300,000 Euros, and began restoration work. Unbeknownst to the Hungarian community and its leadership, the National Public Historic Commission of the Ministry of Culture had issued a secret decision against the restoration on July 18, 2003. The national leadership concealed the news of its about-face until the ultra-nationalist PSD Senator Adrian Păunescu "accidentally" revealed it in an August 18 television interview. Consequently, work at the site was abruptly terminated.
Despite appeals by the DAHR leadership and intercessions by Hungarian President Ferenc Mádl and Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy, the Romanian leadership remained unwilling to honor its numerous commitments to allow the installation of the statue as agreed. On September 30, Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Năstase said in Strasbourg that "the sensitivities of Romanians also have to be considered," thereby once again hiding behind pressure from extreme nationalists. After needlessly antagonizing the Hungarian minority, the Romanian leadership offered a "compromise," where none is warranted, to create a "park of reconciliation" which would house the Freedom Statue along with other Romanian symbols. At the most recent, December 23, 2003 meeting between Prime Minister Năstase and DAHR President Béla Markó, the government confirmed its refusal to allow restoration of the Freedom Statue to its original site.
3. Church and Community Property Restitution Still Unresolved
Romania's failure to restore 2,140 properties confiscated from Hungarian churches represents a fourfold breach of international commitments. By failing to undertake timely and necessary restitution measures, the government (1) curtails religious liberties, (2) violates the sanctity of private property, (3) encroaches on the rights of minority communities, and (4) denies the material resources to build civil society.
The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation has issued six documents monitoring developments since Law No. 501/2002 on restitution of properties illegally confiscated from religious denominations under communism (1945-1989) was adopted by the Romanian Parliament on June 25, 2002. In January 2003, in consultation with the Churches themselves, HHRF identified thirteen minimum measures which the Romanian government needs to take in order for the restitution process to begin. Justice delayed is justice denied.
4. Failure to Restore the Independent Hungarian State University in Cluj/Kolozsvár
Education in the native language is probably the single most important factor for ensuring the collective survival of an ethnic minority. Yet another year passed without adequate Hungarian-language education at the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj/Kolozsvár. Before the end of the 2002/03 school year, ethnic Hungarian professors at the institution again submitted a request to the university senate to establish two Hungarian divisions (humanities and natural sciences), which would integrate the existing Hungarian departments. As in the past, the issue continued to be passed back and forth between the university leadership, which cited insufficient funds, and the government, notably Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu, who evaded action under the guise of "academic autonomy."
Background: Immediately after the 1989 Romanian revolution, the governing National Salvation Front explicitly pledged to restore the independent Hungarian-language Bolyai State University, which the former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu abolished in 1959 by forcibly merging it with the Romanian Babeș University. The demise of this institution, which dates back 500 years, heralded the regime's campaign to eliminate all native-language education and severely traumatized the Hungarian community. According to the 2002 national census, 6.6 percent of the country's population is ethnic Hungarian, yet in the 2001/02 academic year merely 4.3 percent of students enrolled in institutions of higher education were of Hungarian nationality.
5. Anti-Hungarian Bias in the Judicial System
The selective prosecution of ethnic Hungarians in Romania has not even been addressed, much less corrected, to this day. On February 12, 2003, the last ethnic Hungarian imprisoned for participation in revolutionary acts related to the 1989 overthrow of communism, Antal Reiner, was released on good behavior. His release does not, unfortunately, signify that justice was finally served: none of the 13 ethnic Hungarians selectively prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to a combined total of 145 years for their December 1989 resistance to the Ceaușescu regime have been rehabilitated. The court even ordered Reiner and his co-defendants to pay 250 million Lei (approx. $8,000) in "damages."
Background: The selective prosecution and conviction of these 13 ethnic Hungarians for actions that were hailed as "heroic" when committed by ethnic Romanians presents compelling evidence of a strong anti-Hungarian bias in the judicial system. Of the six police fatalities that occurred in December 1989 in the two Hungarian-majority counties of Harghita/Hargita and Covasna/Kovászna — three ethnic Romanian and three ethnic Hungarian — prosecution occurred only in the ethnic Romanian cases. Thirteen ethnic Hungarians from these two counties were handed a combined sentence of 145 years, of which 34 years and 7 months were actually served. After seven men were freed by presidential pardon in March 1994, three of them died, two by suicide. A January 1990 general amnesty issued by then Interim President Ion Iliescu had granted amnesty to participants of lynchings during the revolution, but it was never applied in these cases.
The Council of Europe's Opinion 176 of 1993 specifically called on Romanian authorities to "reconsider in a positive manner the issue of releasing those persons imprisoned on political or ethnic grounds." It was not until 1999 — six years later — that six defendants from Targu Secuiesc/Kézdivásárhely were sentenced, four in absentia. The two in the country, Reiner and Dezső Héjja, were imprisoned. They were singled out for the lynching of a particularly brutal police major, Aurel Agache, who on December 22, 1989 tried to prevent the crowd from entering the local Communist Party headquarters. The defendants, unable to pay the compensation awarded to Agache's family, were then sued by his son. Even after one of the chief witnesses against Reiner, Gizella Várdó, publicly recanted her testimony on March 17, 2003 — disclosing that she had not in fact seen Reiner in the crowd — the Bucharest Supreme Court rejected Reiner's petition for a retrial.
6. Obstructing Bilingualism in Public Administration
The Law on Public Administration (215/2001), adopted on May 23, 2001, mandated the use of the native language, and the display of bilingual government institution, street- and place-name signs, in localities where a minority population exceeds 20 percent. As a result, a total of 1,072 localities became eligible to use the Hungarian language in public administration. However, the rule of law is seriously undermined by the near-total failure to actually implement the law in Alba, Satu Mare, Arad, Maramureș and Cluj counties. The centrally-appointed government Prefects — legally bound to oversee the upholding of laws locally — refused to file charges against Cluj/Kolozsvár Mayor Gheorghe Funar and other violators.
Even where the law is ostensibly implemented, its intent is often violated. The law mandates that in local councils where minority members make up at least one-third of the body, the native language can be used in proceedings. In the case of the Mureș/Maros County Council, simultaneous translating devices were purchased in February 2003 for 800 million Lei (approx. $24,200). When the ethnic Hungarian council members spoke up in Hungarian, however, three members from the ultra-nationalist PUNR and Greater Romania Party vehemently objected, quitting the proceedings in "protest." The 75-percent Hungarian-inhabited Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy has had its translating apparatus since the law was adopted two years earlier, yet the three ethnic Romanian council members there refused to use the headset, "because it singles them out." After two years of refusing to participate except to vote against every proposal, a compromise was reached: proceedings are translated into Romanian and amplified, so the objecting members do not have to wear headsets.
For the second year in a row, the Romanian Parliament failed to ratify the European Charter on Minority or Regional Languages, as agreed to in both the 2002 and 2003 Cooperation Agreements between the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR).
Attachment: Declaration Regarding Self-Government for the Hungarian Minority in Transylvania
Hungarian National Council of Transylvania, Kolozsvár/Cluj, December 13, 2003 — "We, the members of the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania, recognizing that the efforts of the Hungarian national community to achieve autonomy do not infringe upon either the territorial integrity or the national sovereignty of Romania… call for the establishment of the following for the Hungarian national community: self-government at the individual level ('personal autonomy'); special legal status for localities inhabited in the majority by ethnic Hungarians; autonomy for regions inhabited in the majority by ethnic Hungarians; and the enactment into law of these forms of autonomy…"
Source: Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), Memorandum to U.S. Ambassador to Romania Michael Guest, February 2, 2004. The full 18-page document, including all photographic and documentary attachments, is available in the PDF linked above.
