This is the memorial to Radian Belici, who was murdered on 17 December 1989 by the Romanian army on the orders of the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ceaușescu’s regime was collapsing and he was desperately doing what he could in order to save himself, although it failed and he was executed alongside his wife on 25 December 1989.
Belici was just 23 and he believed in a better future for Romania, so he had joined protesters in the city against the regime. Ceaușescu was a brutal dictator, he didn’t fear killing anyone who got in his way, he feared democracy and freedom in every aspect.
Radian was the son of Ana and Ion Belici, who lived in the nearby town of Jebel. Radian had a wife and daughter who he sent home to safety when it was clear what the regime’s forces were about to do in terms of suppressing the protest.
The memorial is located at Timișoara 700 Square, by where Radian Belici was murdered.
This is Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was found guilty (albeit in somewhat of a kangaroo court) of a genocide against the people of Romania. After Radian was executed, his body was sent to Bucharest and cremated alongside other protesters so that the family couldn’t have the ashes. Radian’s mother took a handful of earth from the sewer pipe where the remains were dumped in the hope that they contained some of her son’s ashes. She visited where her son had been killed every day for as long as she was physically able.