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The sociologist Feraru Mihaela ask the former chief of Military Prosecution Services, General Dan Voinea about the big implication of the former members of the communist security services which are now high ranked secret services officers in the files agains MISA.
It is an old story to do
with MISA movement and with Gregorian Bivolaru.
In fact, at the origins there was an action initiated
by Ceausescu's Securitate against the Yoga movement.
It continued with the surveillance of the members of the Yoga Movement
and later of those from MISA school;
there were at least 100 people who were subject to this informative surveillance.
But this is a Securitate type practice.
They would follow a group of people
who were active culturally in a sense of freedom of thought
and spiritual freedom, such as Transcendental Meditation
and Yoga Movement in general.
They would then instrument criminal files for common law offences.
This was a Securitate type practice in complicity with the judicial,
but mainly with those from the Prosecution Offices.
It appears that it was a way to hide the true intentions of the regime
in relation to those who,
one way or another, were defying the communist ideology,
those who were not aligned to the communist dictatorship policy.
This policy as you know had the aim of creating a new type of man,
the new man being a guy whom nobody saw until now,
but at least from what I remember it should have been someone
who was obedient towards the communist regime,
who listened to party activists,
who respected the representatives of the communist regime administration,
including the judicial,
who obeyed the Police and Securitate;
in fact this new man was swallowed by this system
and had no personality anymore.
This man didn’t have any freedom of movement.
We got to a point that if you wanted to travel from one place to another,
you had to have as the Chinese did, a permit so you could go to another city.
It was a general persecution during that time.
There were of course punishments, criminal charges,
there were measures that limited one’s freedom of movement:
for example you could not use more than 30 litters of petrol for your car
and even that was rationed.
Practically you could not travel from Bucharest to a place farther than 300km.
In a month you could not travel only on this amount of petrol.
There were spot checks in every big city, as you entered it,
they would stop you and check your boot and papers.
For example I had to go to Gorj county and until Gorj I was checked 5 times:
on exit from Bucharest, entering Pitesti twice,
at Valcea, at Horezu and so on,
at the entrance of every locality there was a glass cage
with Militia (communist Police) in it.
They were waiting there, they were taking your papers,
control you and all these activities were then reported on to Securitate.
If you stopped at a hotel you were reported to Securitate and so on.
So there was total surveillance of the citizen.
These type of activities included
the surveillance of those from the Transcendental Meditation,
of yoga culture sympathisers, of those who were part of MISA.
In fact MISA appears after the revolution as a continuation of this type of
Securitate oppression of those who wanted to think for themselves, to be free.;
of those who were thinking of a different social and political structure.
It was and remains an anti-communist movement,
because MISA movement has nothing to do with the behaviour rules
demanded by the communist regime, and probably for this reason
was the target of these persecutions and permanent harassment
with informative surveillance, phone tapping and so on.
If this harassment continues nowadays, but yet it is assumed
that the communist regime has been eliminated.
The communist regime has been eliminated, but not the communist administration.
It is wrong.
This theory they launched it themselves,
because after December ‘89 the communist administration remained in power.
So the same people carried on working in all the power structures.
They continued to think, act in the same way as before 1989
and their enemies were the political dissidents,
the former religious and cultural movements
which were subject of Securitate surveillance before 1989.
You are saying that the same mentality has been maintained.
Of course, there was the same mentality, the same class interest of the communist
which carried on in a different way what they were doing before 1989.
We can see based on what you just said
that Gregorian Bivolaru’s files are processed by the same people.
It is a typical file for the former communist regime,
put together during the regime,
conceived if you like during the time of the communist regime
and continued because it was a very politicised institution,
and I mean the Police Prosecutor,
with people who were obedient to the Securitate,
who never dared to refuse the work of the Securitate people,
to analyse them and think like magistrates.
I mean these files managed to enter the courts
and you see how hard it is even nowadays for these courts
to get rid of these monstrosities.
A file like this, you cannot say that it is good for the society.
There is a political aspect to this file, an artificial creation of charges
which cannot be found in the evidence that was submitted in this case.
This is the reason for which, as I understand it,
two separate courts have acquitted, gave an acquittal solution to this file.
About the illegality of interception mandates in relation to the national security, used abusively by the Prosecution Ofice at the High Court of Cassation and Justice in the trial filed by the Romanian State against Gregorian Bivolaru.
Checking the way in which surveillance
and phone tapping was carried out, this can be done in a single way,
but an expert audio investigation that could establish
if what the recordings contains is in agreement with what has been recorded
as being said of which it has been stated
and that endangers the National Security.
But in Romania you don’t have the possibility
for such expert audio investigation,
because there aren’t in Romania, independent offices of criminal expertise.
In Romania expert investigation is state monopoly, hence it will be done by SRI,
so those who are tapping your phone will then carry out the technical expertise.
It is an anachronism which ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) highlighted.
They have also warned those governments
who don’t have private criminal experts
that they need to promote something like this,
because the parties must have equal chances in courts.
So the expertise must not be state monopoly.
Even more of an issue as Romania signed a relevant treaty in Lisbon.
Romania made some commitments in this direction to “civilize”
the justice process in the direction demanded by ECHR.
To what extent there can be found in the file of Gregorian Bivolaru offences
related to National Security, since MISA is a spiritual movement
that involves yoga practice.
It is a bizarre and unique case in European Justice.
I don’t know of any other such file in the former communist countries,
never mind other countries where such movements are not only tolerated,
movements such as MISA are promoted as cultural movements
who promote a certain faith and spirituality;
they are allowed in the democratic countries with democratic freedoms
to carry out their activities in freedom, without any national security problem.
This thing has no place here.
It cannot justify the expenditure of massive funds, of significant energy
from institutions which otherwise have a very important mission,
to protect National Security.
They should not consume their energy in an area which is proven
as being inoffensive, pacifist and so on…