Dezinformare și revizionism în „cazul Ursu” și al Revoluției Române din decembrie 1989 (I)
Disinformation and Revisionism in the "Ursu" Case and the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 (I)

Summary/Abstract: The acquittal of Gheorghe Ursu’s torturers by the Supreme Court on July 27, 2023, has elicited a wave of indignation across the Romanian society. Drawing on the striking gap between the evidence presented in the case and historical record, on one hand, and the Court’s misguided arguments for the acquittal, on the other hand, this study tries to answer the question “how did we get here”. Which were the mechanisms that might have led three Supreme Court justices, three decades after the fall of Communism in Romania, to such an utter misunderstanding, or rather, mystification of facts and the law. We delve into the ”dissimulation” character of Nicolae Ceausescu and Securitate’s repression of dissent. The study offers a short review of the ”Ursu” case and its cover-up. The history and motivations of the post-1989 disinformation strategies are examined, regarding both the Ursu case and the Romanian Revolution of 1989. A few ”vectors of disinformation” from within the ranks of the former Securitate cadres and their acolytes are being identified, their media outlets, as well as the ”variants” of ”legends” they planted in the public space. The study identifies some of the processes (or lack thereof) and institutions that contributed to the acceptance of a revisionist history of late Communism. The paper concludes with an examination of the consequences this revision of history might have for the public consciousness and for future generations.

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