Iliescu has a complex legacy. He will be remembered as the country’s first democratic leader, and for his brutal crackdown against dissent in 1990.

Romania's former President Ion Iliescu, who led its transition from communism and set it on the path to European Union and NATO membership, but faced charges of crimes against humanity for violently suppressing protests in the 1990s,

The casket carrying the body of Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first elected president after the bloody fall of communism in 1989, was transferred on Wednesday from the hospital where he died to the capital’s presidential palace for a state funeral as the

"To understand Iliescu, you must grasp the complexity of Romania's 1990s," says political analyst Teodor Tita. "He was neither a simple hero, nor a straightforward villain. He emb

Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first freely elected president after the fall of communism in 1989, who later faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody revolution, has died. He was 95.

As a three-term president, he guided the country toward democracy, but he was called an authoritarian at heart and accused of brutality during the revolt that put him in power.

Romania's first post-communist president, Ion Iliescu, was buried on Thursday amid stark divisions over his legacy. He died at 95, symbolising Romania's tumultuous transition.View on euronews

Romania's former president Ion Iliescu, who died aged 95 on Tuesday, was long hailed as Romania's "little father" but faced charges over his role in the eastern European nation's chaotic