Lumea Justitiei has come across newsworthy documents, bearing the seal of the National Council for the Review of the Security Services’ Archives. We present exclusive documents which reveal how a prosecutor from Alba county, named Augustin Lazar, denied the parole of an anticommunist dissident, twice. This happened in the mid-80s, as the Ceausescu regime was inflicting full-fledged terror.

Coincidence has it that the name of the prosecutor in this case is identical to Romania’s Attorney General. Another coincidence is that the case takes place at the Aiud Penitentiary, in Alba county, which is the home of the current Attorney General of Romania. Last but not least, during the time when the anticommunist dissident was kept in prison by prosecutor Augustin Lazar for actions against the communist regime, the current Attorney General – Augustin Lazar (pictured) conducted his activity at the Alba Prosecutor’s Office, according to his own resume. Is the prosecutor Augustin Lazar who kept dissident Iulius Filip in prison the same as Romania’s current Attorney General – Augustin Lazar? We don’t know. That is why Lumea Justitiei sent an official request to the Attorney General’s Office, asking Augustin Lazar to express a point of view regarding his involvement in the case, in order to publish his perspective as well. And even though we indicated the time until which the Attorney General’s position could be sent in order to be included in the article, unfortunately, by the time the article was published, we hadn’t received a reply from the Attorney General’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. We will publish Lazar’s point of view when we will receive such information from him.

Otherwise, the name of a prosecutor – Augustin Lazar – can be found in the case of one of the most recognized anticommunist dissidents and political prisoners.  We are referring to military foreman Iulius Filip. To be concise, in the 80s, after sending a pamphlet to Nicolae Ceausescu and expressing his support to Polish anticommunist movement ‘Solidarity’ through a letter, Iulius Filip was investigated and arrested on multiple occasions, locked in the dungeons of the Security Service, in the death row cells of Rahova Penitentiary and the mental institution of the Jilava prison. In the end, he was sentenced to 5 years and 4 months imprisonment for ‘propaganda against the socialist regime’.

“He drafted several materials, letters and memoirs with a hostile content which he distributed to acquaintances as well as official bodies”

He began to serve his sentence on December 14th 1981, the expiry date thereof being April 13th 1987. During this time, Iulius Filip applied for parole twice. He was denied parole on both accounts, one of those who decided to keep him in prison being prosecutor Augustin Lazar.

Consequently, on July 9th 1985, Iulius Filip’s situation was discussed in the Parole Board of the Aiud Penitentiary. The board consisted of lt. colonel Vasile Rus (commanding officer of the Aiud Penitentiary), lt. major Petru Silaghi (Second in command for security and regime of the Aiud Pentitentiary – first officer), pmc. Gheorghe Liga (head of the Services department of the Aiud Penitentiary), cpt. Cornel Burz (educator of the Aiud Penitentiary), pmc. Ioan Emanoil (head of convict recordkeeping of the Aiud) and was led by prosecutor Augustin Lazar.

The Board determined that, in order to become eligible for parole, Iulius Filip had to serve 2/3 of his sentence, meaning 1299 days, and, in case he worked, 325 would count as days served based on work performed and 974 days would be actually served. The Board, led by Augustin Lazar, ascertained that Iulius Filip had already served 1304 days, from December 14th 1981 to July 9th 1985, without having worked, for reasons of illness. Therefore, the anticommunist dissident met all of the conditions for parole.

However, Iulius Filip was not paroled. And that was because the Board, led by Augustin Lazar, decided that Filip had not displayed thorough proof of redemption and had continued his subversive actions against the socialist order of things, the communist regime and the Socialist Republic of Romania. Specifically, the Parole Board led by prosecutor Augustin Lazar decided the following:

“De facto status: The convict has had conversations hostile to the Socialist Republic of Romania and has drafted several materials, letters and memoirs with malicious content, which he has distributed both to acquaintances as well as to certain official bodies.

He was punished 5 times with isolation, amounting to a total of 42 days of solitary confinement, for offences such as: insults against party and state bodies, failing to comply with internal regulations, inappropriate attitude towards the officers, violating correspondence regulations. For reasons pertaining to his inappropriate behavior, the management of the Penitentiary approved a 12-month restrictive incarceration out of the convict’s sentence. (…) He did not show solid proof of redemption”.

Eventually, through report no. 28 dated 09.07.1985, Augustin Lazar’s Board decided that: “Inmate Filip Iulius is not eligible for parole, the hearing is postponed by 1 year due to his disciplinary sanctions, and the sentence he has served so far does not pose a guarantee of reeducation”.

1986, the same verdict

The case of anticommunist dissident Iulius Filip was discussed once again, on July 8th 1986. In this case as well, the Parole Board had Augustin Lazar as chairman, alongside other members such as lt. colonel Vasile Rus (commanding officer of the Aiud Penitentiary), mr. Marius Coldea Rusu (Second in command for security and regime of the Aiud Pentitentiary – first officer), pmc. Gheorghe Liga (head of the Services department of the Aiud Penitentiary), cpt. Cornel Burz (educator of the Aiud Penitentiary) and pmc. Ioan Emanoil (head of convict recordkeeping of the Aiud – as Secretary).

Meanwhile, anticommunist dissident Iulius Filip had served 1669 days in prison, thus meeting the parole conditions, which required 1299 days served. However, the Board led by Augustin Lazar refused to grant him parole, once again. The same reasons as in 1985 were invoked, meaning that Iulius Filip did not show solid proof of redemption and had continued subversive action against the communist regime of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

The findings of the Board spearheaded by Augustin Lazar in 1986 were the following:

“De facto status: Lately, he has had conversations hostile towards the Socialist Republic of Romania and has drafted several materials, consisting of letters and memoirs with a malicious content, which he has distributed both to acquaintances as well as to official bodies.

He was punished 5 times with isolation, amounting to 42 days of solitary confinement,  for offences such as: insults against party and state bodies, failing to comply with internal regulations, inappropriate attitude towards the officers, violating correspondence regulations. For reasons pertaining to his inappropriate behavior, the management of the Penitentiary approved a 12-month restrictive incarceration out of the convict’s sentence. His last punishment was in August 1985. Since then, his behavior has been adequate. (…) He has not showed solid evidence of redemption”.
Consequently, through report no. 28 dated 08.07.1986, the Board presided by Augustin Lazar decided that: “Inmate Filip Iulius is not eligible for parole, to be postponed until the term of the sentence, meaning 13.04.1987,  given the fact that the time he has served so far does not pose a full guarantee of reeducation”.

Practically, the refusals of Augustin Lazar’s Board to parole him forced anticommunist dissident Iulius Filip to serve his sentence in its entirety.

Who is Iulius Filip

Hereunder, we present more information on inmate Iulius Filip, whom prosecutor Augustin Lazar kept in prison, as presented on the Wikipedia website:

“Iulius Filip is an anticommunist dissident and former Romanian political prisoner.

The first public act of dissidence ascribed to military foreman Iulius Filip occurred when he declared his support of the miners who participated in the Miners’ Strike of Valea Jiului in 1977. The measure taken against him was the interdiction to work with armament.

In 1981, Iulius Filip sent a pamphlet to the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, addressed to Nicolae Ceausescu, entitled “Dream and hope” which ended with the lyrics: „Praise, lies and words, with these you have always fooled us/ But now is the time for their end and twilight!”. He was arrested between March 3rd and 5th 1981 and investigated, and on March 15th 1981, then-Minister of Defense, Constantin Olteanu, discharged him by order 51/ 1981 „for deeds incompatible with the status of a serving member of the military”.

The Security Service offered him a position of foreman at a civil institution, on condition that he become an informant. Because he refused, the job offer was rescinded. In order to support his family, he was forced to do odd jobs, washing building staircases, windows, etc. After 3 months, he managed to find a job at the repair shops of the Romanian Railroad, specifically the `16 Februarie’ plant in Cluj, as an unskilled worker, without having any qualifications acknowledged.

In 1981, Iulius Filip sent a letter of support to the Solidarity syndicate Congress of Poland, with the message: “We wish good look to the first congress of a free syndicate of the socialist countries”, signed by “Romanian worker Iulius Filip, 16 Februarie railway plant, Cluj”. The leaders of the Solidarity syndicate received the letter, which was read in the plenum of the congress, on September 28th 1981. Subsequently, the letter was published by large press outlets.

As a result, the State Security Department, also known as the “Security Office” initiated an investigation accusing him of “allegiance to counterrevolutionary forces in Poland.” After the letter was also broadcast on the Europa Libera radio station, and became known to the Romanian public, Iulius Filip was deferred to the Cluj military tribunal and then the Bucharest one, for crimes of propaganda against the socialist regime. He was sentenced to imprisonment for five years and four months, which he served in the prisons of Cluj, Bucharest, Jilava and Aiud.

He was incarcerated in the basement of the Security Office (December 14th -19th 1981) in Bucharest, 37-39 Rahovei Street (December 19th 1981 – February 8th 1982), the death row convict cells in Rahova, the prison for the criminally insane in Jilava (20.07.82 – 15.10.82) and the Aiud penitentiary until 1987.

He was released from prison in 1987. Because he refused to sign a statement undertaking never to take action against the socialist regime, Iulius Filip was moved to the Zlatna construction site in Alba, where he worked for one year and two months.

Together with other political prisoners, he formulated a letter demanding that Nicolae Ceausescu be removed from power and Romania be returned to a democratic state, which he sent, in May 1988, to the participants of the Vienna Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Consequently, he was investigated and tortured for five days by the Security Office.

Iulius Filip and others opposing the regime were ordered to leave the country in 10 days. They had submitted their emigration papers for some time to the American Embassy in Bucharest, mostly as a formality, to prevent them from being killed and ‘vanishing’. Iulius Filip left Romania and spent eight years in exile in the United States of America, near Seattle, Washington state. In 1997, he returned to Romania to care for his ailing mother.
The President of the Polish Republic Bronisław Komorowski granted Iulius Filip the Commodore Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, ‘for his contribution and devotion in supporting democratic change in Poland’. It was handed to him by the Polish Ambassador to Romania, Marek Szczygiel, during an official ceremony held in the Glass Hall of the Cluj-Napoca Mayor’s Office, on November 7th 2014”.

* Read here the Romanian version of the article