President Traian Basescu, an independent candidate in the December 6 presidential run-off endorsed by the Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L), told a news conference on Sunday at his campaign headquarters that he will never grant pardon or amnesty to people who were responsible for the violent miners' riots that ran havoc on the capital city of Romania in the early 1990s. He added that the recent ceremony in Petrosani where he decorated miners was a sign of his personal respect to miners, adding that back in the 1990s they were manipulated by then president Ion Iliescu and their then leader Miron Cozma.

 

'I will never grant pardon or amnesty to those responsible for the miners' riots. Today, I have issued a signal for those who were manipulated. Under my tenure, I spent much time in the Jiu Valley and I got to know miners well, to know their souls and their feelings for justice. I could also see how dedicated and united to each other they were in the accident of November 15,' said Basescu.

He insisted that the miners should not be stigmatised for the riots of the 1990s, because they were manipulated back then.

'Those events were the result of an irresponsible leader, Miron Cozma, and of a politician who got old in bad things, also irresponsible, called Ion Iliescu. The decoration of the miners of Petrosani in the Jiu Valley is the sign of my and the Romanians' respect to them for their hard working,' said Basescu.

He said that on Sunday at Petrosani he posthumously decorated the miners who died in a November 15, 2008 mine accident at Petrila and also the miners who rescued some of the team affected by the explosion.

Members of the families of the 2008 mine explosion's victims and the rescuing miners were decorated on Sunday at Petrosani with various medals by President Basescu, on the commemoration of one year since the tragic accident that left 13 dead and 12 seriously injured.

 

AGERPRES