Susnea Lavinia (a worker) was arrested in the Maria Square, on the morning of December 17, at 2.00 o?clock. She and a lot of other demonstrators were shouting slogans against the communist system. Some Dacia cars and some vans appeared in the area. A lot of civilians and policemen got out of the cars. Susnea tried to run away, but she was caught by two young policen and beaten with a club. She was forced to get into a Dacia car, and she was beaten again, while she was transported to the headquarters of the Police[35].

            Stetcu Doina and her husband were arrested on the morning of December 17, at 2.00 o?clock, at the gas station on the Aradului Avenue. An ARO of the Police stopped in front of them; some policemen rushed them and forced them to get in the Aro. They were taken to the headquarters of the Local Police[36].

            Florea Gheorghe (a welder), was arrested by a group of policemen on the evening of December 17, at 22.00 o?clock, near the Sinaia Restaurant. They had an extremely rough attitude towards him ?they hit me until I lost consciousness, when I regained consciousness I realized I was in an ARO car of the Police; out of the blue, the ARO car stopped near a car of the police, I was thrown in a van, there were a lot of persons in the van, they were guarded by many armed policemen, accompanied by police dogs. They forced us to lie face down and they started to beat us with their guns and their truncheons. A sergeant hit me furiously, so I raised and I asked him why he was beating me as if I were an animal. I got a punch for the answer and he threatened to kill me, but I was lucky, his superior ordered him to leave me alone and to stop beating us.? The car took the arrested people to the Penitentiary[37]. 

            Policemen arrested Coca Ioan (a waiter) too. He was arrested between the Capitol Cinema and the Cathedral, in the morning of December 17, at 4.00 o?clock. An officer asked him his identity papers, beat him, and he took him in an ARO car. There were a lot of people, who lied face down. All of them were taken to the Local Inspectorate of the Police[38].  

            Abrihan Ioan (a driver) was arrested by a patrol of four policemen         while he was going back home, crossing the Liberty Square, on December 17, at 3.00-3.30 o?clock. He and other people were taken to the garrison. Two hours later, they were forced to get in a car and they were taken to the Local Inspectorate of the Police[39]. 

            As you can see from these statements, the people were taken directly either to the Local Inspectorate of the Police or to the Penitentiary. In some cases, they were forced to wait, because the soldiers or the policemen had to arrest more people or because there wasn?t a car to take them directly to the Garrison in the Liberty Square, to the Garrison in the Lipova Avenue, to the town council or to the headquarters of the Local Committee of the Communist Party. In general, the arrested people were taken first to the Local Inspectorate of the Police and then to the Penitentiary. In some cases, the arrested were directly taken to the Penitentiary. In both places, they were questioned according to the most barbarian methods, they were threatened and beaten. There was an obvious difference between the treatments given to the arrested at the Police station and at the Penitentiary. While all the arrested taken to the Police station were beaten, only few people taken to the Penitentiary were beaten. At the Penitentiary, people were told either that they would be sent to prison for life, or that they would be shot.   

            Archip Viorel was arrested by some civilians on Leontin Salajan Avenue, in the evening of December 17, and beaten on the way to the Police. He and other people taken into custody were forced to go into the yard of the local Police station, to lie face down, then they were beaten by lots of policemen. All their valuables were taken away from them and they were forced to go into the basement. Archip Viorel was taken into a cell where there were other eight people, who lay face down. He was forced to lay face down too. At some point, Achip lay on his back, and the policeman who was at the door of the cell came in and started to hit him. At 3.00 a.m. he and another 80 persons were forced to get in a car. The soldiers and the policemen formed a 20-25 metres long corridor to the car. They hit the people who were forced to pass through this corridor. The car took them to the Penitentiary[40].

            Costel Balint was arrested on the morning of December 17 and was taken, in an ARO, to the headquarters of the Securitate. On his way there, he was beaten by the members of the Securitate and of the Police. He lost his consciousness and when he regained it he realized he had been dragged into a cell, where he was forced to lay on his back. It was a small cell, and there were at least 50 persons in it.  He was bleeding. Later on, other people, who had all been beaten, were brought into the cell. Later, a civilian with a club came in their cell and started to ask them what they were doing on the streets in the middle of the night. Balint answered he was illegally arrested and he got a punch which broke one of his teeth. A man in a blue gown took him into a small room and started to search him. Because of the fact that he had an audio tape in his pocket he got punched again. The guardian asked for his identity papers. He was brought to another cell, where there were about 60 other people. Among them, there was a man who maintained that he was a noncommissioned officer. He came there to talk to the chef of the Police, but he was ignored since he got there. Soon after, they were taken in the yard in order for the policemen to sort them (men, women, children). There was a bleeding man on the ground. The policemen dragged him to a car and took him somewhere. The other people were threatened with life in prison. A short time after, Balint and the other 60 persons were forced to get into a van and they were taken to the Penitentiary. There was an invalid person among them (a beggar whose legs had been amputated below the knees) whom Balint helped to get in the car[41].

            Bartha Stefan Dorin was arrested near the Louis Turcanu Hospital on the night of December 16-17, was first beaten at the headquarters of the town council by some noncommissioned officers, then he was taken, together with other people, to the local Police, were they were forced to lay face down, and were beaten with ?clubs and long pieces of wood?. 50 persons, only men, were dragged into the basement, in a cell of 4/5 squared metres. They were kept in there from 3.30 a.m. to 5.30 a.m. At 5.30, they were dragged back in the yard where they waited for the cars to take them to the Penitentiary[42].    

            Caloianu Dumitru told us almost the same thing. He was taken to the headquarters of the Securitate, was dragged into a small room and was beaten with a handle until he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he was in a room  with other 50-60 people. On the morning of December 17, they were forced to get into a car and were taken to the Penitentiary[43].

            Deaconu Sorin Ioan?s case is one of the few examples of persons who were kept at the headquarters of the Local Police before being released. He was arrested by two civilians in the Electrometal Factory (where he was working) on the afternoon of December 18. On December 17 he had participated to the manifestations and had refused to join the patriotic guards (made of workers) who were sent to the center of the town to maintain the ?public order?. A car brought him to the headquarters of the Securitate; someone took him to a room and told him to wait. He left the room after 3 hours and he asked the officer whether he still had to wait or not. There were some members of the Securitate and two civilians in the hall. One of the civilians was Radu Tinu. He asked Deaconu Sorin Ioan what his name was. Radu Tinu said ?You are an engineer at the Electrometal Factory, the engineer who organized the demonstration in 1987 on the first of December[44], and I saw you this morning on the campus, you were inciting students to join you.? Then he ordered a civilian to take Deaconu down to the basement. The civilian ?punched me, and hit me with his gun?, pushed him into a small yard, to another door: ?I wanted to step in that new room but I couldn?t, punches on my nose and strokes on my head stopped me?. He turned towards the yard, in order to avoid the punches, but the civilian called some soldiers and he told them to ?take care? of Deaconu. ?They started to hit me violently, and they went on beating me even after my collapse.? I was pushed on the doorway of the basement ?I was welcomed by the policemen, who went on beating me?. They had taken all his personal possessions; they pushed him into a cell where there were other 22 persons between the age of 16 to 70. All these persons were laying face down, and had bruises all over their bodies. They were released on December 20 at 23.00 o?clock. Before that date nobody asked about them. Only few of them had undergone cross-examinations. During their imprisonment period, they had only once received food, a ?horrible fish soup? and a slice of bread. Just before being released, three civilians came in their cell, and told them, very calmly, that they had been arrested by mistake; that they would be brought to their houses; they advised them not to go out anymore[45].  

            Ranez Rudolf, 13 years old at that time, and his father, were arrested on the night of December 16-17, near the town council. They were taken into the hall of the town council, beaten up and then taken, in a van, to the Local Police station.   When they got off the car, they were welcomed by a cordon of civilians with truncheons who hit them and dragged them into a cell. They spent their night there, and in the morning, they were dragged in the yard, and they were told they were going to be taken to the Penitentiary58.  

            Suciu Gabriela Maria and some of her friends were arrested on December 17 at 3.00 o?clock. They were taken to the Local Police and were dragged into the basement. There was a man with a truncheon in the doorway. He used it to hit all of them. Almost everybody in the basement had been beaten and even disfigured. They had to knee down until the policemen had found out their names and their addresses. They weren?t allowed to move. They were taken to other cells. In the morning, the police vans took them to the Penitentiary59. 

Susnea Lavinia, arrested in Maria Square, on the morning of December 17 at 2.00 o?clock, was taken to the Police and was accused of having ransacked  shops. In a corner of a room she was shown TV sets, radios, and cassette players. Other people were being brought in and beaten. Once in that room, they were forced to go down on their knees towards the wall and put their arms behind the neck. Lavinia Susnea got sick and she was allowed to get up and sit on a chair. Then all the people were taken to their cells; they stayed there until 11.00-12.00 o?clock when they were taken to the Penitentiary60.

In the Penitentiary, they took away all of Lavinia Susnea?s valuables. She was  imprisoned together with other 30 women in a 15-bed cell. There was a 13 years old girl among them, who was released on Monday, December 18. They were counted every morning. On Wednesday morning (December 20) they decided to refuse the food. They had made up their mind. The guardians brought a van with its engine on in the yard of the Penitentiary in order to cover the sound of the demonstrators? protests. The guardians promised to release them in the evening61.

            Balint Costel and other people were taken to cell no. 56. At 17.00 o?clock they heard shots outside, in the town. They got afraid; they thought the shots were coming from the yard of the Penitentiary, and that people were being shot.

            In the cell, Balint recognized two teenagers whom he had seen ransacking  shops and breaking the streetlights in Maria Square. He pretended not to know them. Balint admitted that at the time, every arrested person was trying to find or to make up an alibi, nobody wanted to confess to his/her participation to the manifestations. At 13.30 o?clock, he had to go into the yard, to wait his turn at the interrogation. He waited for many hours, but nobody questioned him. He had to regain his cell. New people were brought in the cell, and their number reached 200 in a cell with 80 beds. These people were wounded, some were bleeding, and some of them had even bullets in their bodies. In the evening, when he went to the toilet, Balint realized he was urinating blood because of the punches he had received before being arrested. At 21.00 other people were brought into the cell. One of them was Ioji, who ?proclaimed himself the boss of the cell?. The guardians knew him and agreed with him. Balint went once again to the toilet, and he saw a young man who was trying to put a dressing on his bleeding shoulder. Balint helped him. On Monday, those under 18 were released. The other people took advantage of this situation and they sent letters to their families. On Tuesday, December 19 Balint was finally interrogated. He was brought into a small room where 5-6 investigating officers were waiting for him. A prosecutor asked him why he had left home, what he was doing on the streets and what kind of slogans he had shouted.  He made up a story, he told them he had been illegally arrested, he had never taken part in the manifestations. One of the investigating officers told him ?not to give him that? and to answer ?why he had set fire to the car.? On hearing this, Balint remembered having seen some boys who had set fire to an ARO in front of the building of the Romanian national railway company (RNRC). He was sure somebody had filmed this event, but he hadn?t taken part in it, he had just seen it. He didn?t confess participating, so he received a blow. He was called ?damned Hungarian? and he was told he was going to be shot. He answered he was a Romanian orthodox whose name had been transformed into a Hungarian name. He refused to sign the declaration written by the investigating officers, so he was beaten by the guardian who accompanied him. On his way to the cell, he heard that military prosecutors from Bucharest came to the Penitentiary. Balint told us that the following night the guardians left two cars with their engines on in the yard of the Penitentiary, so that the screams of those beaten up would not be heard. At 22.00 o?clock the guardians made alphabetical lists of the arrested people?s names, professions, addresses, political membership, religion, and nationality. On Wednesday, December 20, at 10.00 ? 11.00, the first 10 people were released. In the evening, a civilian told the people, very calmly, that 14 groups were going to be released. They got scared because they thought they were going to be shot62.

            Once at the Penitentiary, Bartha Stefan Dorin was taken away all his valuables, and he was brought, together with other people to a ?kind of club of the Penitentiary? where they were questioned. Their statements were recorded. On December 17, at 18.00 o?clock, they were taken to their cells, Bartha and his colleague were imprisoned in cell no. 56. In the evening, they received horrible food which they could hardly eat. At 21.00 they had to turn off the light of their cell. In the same evening, a young man whose arm was bleeding was brought into their cell. A medicine student came to his aid. On the morning of December 19 small groups of people were called in order to be questioned. A civilian sorted the persons who were going to be interrogated. Bartha was going to be questioned in the evening. Some prosecutors would hit the persons they were supposed to interrogate; but Bartha?s prosecutor was different. Bartha signed a declaration written by the prosecutor. In the morning of December 20 the first 5 persons from that cell, in alphabetical order, were called to the yard, and they never came back. They might have been released63.

            Cazacu Florin was only 15 at that time. He and other youngsters under 18 were released before the others, in the evening of December 18. He and the others told us that at the Penitentiary 16 persons were put together in cells with with 4 beds. They received only little occasional food. On December 17, at 17.00 o?clock he was called in order to be questioned. A lot of persons were taken in a small room and everyone had to sit at one desk. A prosecutor sat near Cazacu and interrogated him. On December 18, at 21.00 o?clock all the young men under 18 had to gather. Cazacu heard the principal of the Azur high school (where he used to study) call his name. This principal released all the pupils of the Azur high school64.

            Ciataras Ioan Dan was taken, in an ARO, to the Penitentiary. The policemen beat him and the other people with truncheons. Then ?we had to take off our clothes, for them to see if we don?t have guns on us. I saw that we had bruises all over our bodies; so the policemen asked us: who painted you?? Then, we was taken to a big room, full of people, were they were questioned. After the interrogation, he and other 5 people were taken to a cell. During his imprisonment, 3 different policemen came and asked him to show them his identity papers. Ciataras told us that a colonel ordered the guardians to release them in the evening of December 2065.

            Szallos Ioan was taken to the Penitentiary and had to share his cell with other 175 persons. 2 or even 3 persons had to share a bed. He was questioned 2 or 3 times before his release on December 20, at 20.00 o?clock. The people had to walk, in groups, in front of a camera, and 4 or 5 of them had to go in the yard of the Penitentiary. They never came back. They were either Hungarians or students in their final years66.

            Archip Viorel?s case is very special. On December 18, he was carried from the Local Inspectorship of the Police to the Penitentiary, imprisoned for two days and then he was brought back to the Local Inspectorate of Police. At the Penitentiary, he was questioned, and then he was imprisoned together with other 140 persons in a cell with 90 beds. During his imprisonment, he had to sign declarations every day. On December 20, he and some other persons were taken to the Local Inspectorate of Police. There, 18 persons were imprisoned in a cell with 8 beds. Only persons whose first names began with A were imprisoned in that cell. At 9.00 o?clock, Viorel was taken to the interrogation. He had to wait in an office until 14.00 o?clock. Meanwhile, he asked a guardian if he had any chances to be released. He was told that he might well be released. He regained his cell, he stood there until 23.00 o?clock, when the guardians opened the doors of the cells and told them they were free to leave as they were found not guilty67. 

On December 20, almost all of the people were released. Some of them were taken, by cars, to the Liberty Square, where the demonstrators were waiting for them (see Antoni Ioan68 and Bartha Stefan Dorin?s cases69). In some other cases, cars were put at the disposal of the released people and they were brought home (see Archip Viorel?s case70) or to the Local Committee of the Communist Party (see Balint Costel71, Adriana Lucretia Parvan72 and Rosu Florin?s73 cases). Some others were brought onto the main streets of the town: Dan Daniel Rus, for instance, was left at the Cardinal Points74, Fekete Paula was left at the end of the Leontin Salajan Avenue75, Rancz Ioan was left near the socks factory76 and Rosu Mirela was left near the tramways depot77.  

Only few people were imprisoned until December 22, after Ceausescu ran away from Bucharest78.

As you can see the communist authorities? treatment of the inhabitants and the demonstrators of Timisoara was brutal. If on December 16 the only method the communist authorities used was to spread the demonstrators with the help of the members of the Ministry on the Interior and the Ministry of the Defence carrying clubs and truncheons, on December 17, they began to open fire on demonstrators. They began to arrest the opponents on December 17, and they went on with the arrests on December 18 and December 19. If, at the very beginning, the authorities used the beatings as a punishment for the ?brave people?, later on, during the interrogations, the people were told they had been beaten because they had ransacked shops. The people arrested were forced to sign declarations according to which they had done  this. If they refused to sign, they were beaten. As far as we know, the local communist authorities ordered the policemen and the soldiers to arrest the demonstrators, and this order was illegal. The authorities tried to justify their actions and told the world that all the persons had been arrested because they had ransacked shops or because they had committed theft. It is true that at the beginning of the revolt some demonstrators had broken into shops. We cannot forget that even Ceausescu told the country, on the evening of December 20, that the inhabitants of Timisoara were ransacking shops79.  But there are reports of authorities breaking into some shops themselves in order to justify the arrests and the order to open fire on the demonstrators. Fekete Paula?s statement supports this. She was arrested in the evening of December 17, behind the town council, by two civilians who were breaking into  shops80.

On December 20, realizing that the revolt would spread to the other parts of the country, and under pressure from the tens of thousands of demonstrators, the authorities had to release the arrested people from the Penitentiary. Some of the people arrested by the Police were released as late as December 22, because the authorities did their best  to find a few ?scapegoats?.

                                                            Olivian Dulea

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