NRDO

Andrei Ursu, The „discerning political and judicial judgement” of the Securitate. Guises of repression during the Ceaușescu regime

Abstract: The stated goal of Ceausescu’s political repression was to create the image of an opposition-free Romania. The Securitate focused its efforts on the „neutralization”, „from the start and with discerning political and judicial judgement”, of „dissident nuclei”; on discovering „hostile writings” and „intentions”; and on stopping the flow of letters to Radio Free Europe „defaming the situation in the country” and the dictatorial couple. Based on dossiers existing at CNSAS, this paper analyzes what the Securitate meant by „discerning political and judicial judgement”: camouflaging the repression „usually under the cover of the Militia” and disguising the „actions against the socialist order” as „nonpolitical crimes”. As much as possible, the Securitate officers were ordered to „dissimulate themselves” and only prosecute political offenses as such „when there was no other option”. The statistics reviewed show that thousands of lesser-known cases of opposition existed, which were „resolved” by the Securitate through fake trials, similar to that of Gheorghe Ursu. The conclusion is that Romania had a significantly larger opposition in the ’70s and ’80s than was previously known. Thanks to concealment, the dissidents formally investigated and convicted for political crimes represented but a small percentage of the total number of victims of the final two decades of communism in Romania.

Keywords: prevention, neutralization, repression, dissidents, national-communism, Securitate, Iulian Vlad, Tudor Postelnicu, Nicolae Ceaușescu, CNSAS

Gabriel Andreescu, Religious life in Romania from the perspective of nonbelievers

Abstract: The study assumes the unbelievers’ perspective on religious life. The research was focused on the flaws that make today Romania a country where there is an intense and systematic Christian-Orthodox indoctrination. The paper finds that while the modern constitutional framework establishes the rule of law, human dignity, citizens' rights and freedoms, and the free development of human personality, the public authorities are more in keeping with the theses of the Romanian Orthodox Church. I have investigated the consistency of religiosity data in Romania, the issue of „captive communities”, which are vulnerable to religious indoctrination, with particular reference to the situation of pupils in public schools, discrimination against non-believers and the significance of intersectionality in this case. The conclusion of the study is that in Romania there has been a 28 year a process of indoctrination fed by the partnership between the state and the ROC. The situation is equivalent to introducing a theocratic dimension to state functioning.

Keywords: non-believers, captive communities, religious indoctrination, discrimination, theocracy, Romanian Orthodox Church

Elena Lazăr, ECtHR jurisprudence post Bărbulescu related to the employee supervision – evolution and consequences

Abstract: This article analyzes on one hand the impact and importance of the Bărbulescu case-law in the context of the surveillance of employees at work; and on the other hand the position of the European Court of Human Rights in this domain after the issuing of this judgment in order to determine whether there has been a jurisprudential evolution or rather an involution.

Keywords: surveillance, employees, video cameras, correspondence, balance