MINELRES: Romania: Bulletin DIVERS on Ethnic Minorities no. 3 (246) / January 29, 2007

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Divers Bulletin no. 3 (246) / January 29, 2007

News

ROMANIAN JUSTICE PASSES FINAL DECISION IN HADARENI CASE 
ROMA ETHNICS TO JOIN INTO AN AMERICAN-LIKE "PARLIAMENT" 
HUNGARIANS INTERESTED IN HIGHER INCOME RATHER THAN IN AUTONOMY 
BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY TO PERMIT HUNGARIAN SIGNS 
UDMR SETTLES CANDIDATES LISTS FOR EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
ROMANIANS ABROAD INTERESTED IN DOUBLE CITIZENSHIP 
"SONG OF DEPORTED" GERMANS TO THE SOVIET REPUBLIC SUNG AFTER 62 YEARS 
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News

ROMANIAN JUSTICE PASSES FINAL DECISION IN HADARENI CASE 
TIRGU-MURES - Hadareni case was finally closed at almost 14 years from
the tragic events back there. Mures Courthouse ruled Friday, January 19
in the litigation between the last group of ethnic Romas, rejecting the
ethnic Roma action of enforcing some court orders on compensations
payable by the Romanian villagers in Hadareni. The conflict in Hadareni
(central Romania) burst in the evening of September 20, 1993, following
dispute between several Romanian and Roma ethnics. The conflict
culminated with Lacatus Ripa Lupian stabbing Craciun Chetan, who
subsequently deceased. The local police tried to take actions, but
Lacatus and one of his brothers refused to hand over to the authorities.
They hide in a house and threatened to kill someone unless they are left
alone. 
The inhabitants gathered around the house they were hiding and started
to throw with stones against it to make them get out and hand over to
the police. Two persons in the crow lit a piece of paper and threw it
inside of the house, which burst on fire. Lacatus Ripa Lupian finally
got out and the people started to hit him. The conflict amplified. Four
persons died, 14 houses were put on fire and other four were partially
destroyed in Hadareni conflict. 
Trials subsequently followed in the criminal as well as civil field. The
trials in the criminal field were concluded on November 1999 with
sentencing to jail five persons, for murder. Those in the civil field
were concluded on February 27, 2004, with the sentence passed by Tirgu
Mures Court of Appeals. The ethnic Romas subpoenaed the Romanian state
and accused the authorities of having breached several articles from the
European Convention of Human Rights. 
Pro Europa league appealed the decision of Mures Courthouse, claiming
the state disregarded the protection of the right to property. The head
of Human Rights Office with PRO EUROPA League, Haller Istvan, told
DIVERS: "PRO EUROPA League has monitored Hadareni case since the
conflict burst in September 1993, and concluded this is a serious case
of human rights breach. The decision of Mures Courthouse on January 19,
2007 on the non-enforcement of a definitive decision passed by the High
Court of Cassation and Justice proves Romania disregards the protection
of the right to property. The persons who put on fire 14 houses in
Hadareni village have not spent a day to prison for their actions and
the court ruled they were not supposed to pay a dime for the damage they
caused. Moreover, they were rewarded for their actions, as following the
media coverage of their "drama", the arsonists opened a bank account
where people transferred significant amounts of money," Haller Istvan
also said. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/


ROMA ETHNICS TO JOIN INTO AN AMERICAN-LIKE "PARLIAMENT" 
SIBIU - Self-proclaimed Roma king in Romania, Florin Cioaba, said
Wednesday, January 24 that he will establish an ethnic Romas Parliament
in Romania, after the American model. "It is time to take a stand, to
stick together and to be united. We will establish the first Roma
Parliament countrywide, which will be a test before running for the
European Parliament, in mid-May," Florin Cioaba said. 
The new parliament will be called just like the Lower House of US's
Parliament. The Chamber of Romas Representatives in Romania, or CRRR,
will be the first Parliament made up after exclusively ethnic criteria.
Some 430 Roma representatives will be chosen through democratic vote.
Each city will elect at least ten ethnic Romas and CRRR will have a
president, a vice-president and a secretary general. 
The new forum of ethnic Romas will gather all their 250 organizations.
The Ethnic Romas Parliament will monitor the enforcement of the EU's
stipulations on this ethnic and will pass decisions which will be
subsequently submitted for analysis to the Parliament and Government of
Romania, and to the European forums. The first Romas' general meeting to
set up CRRR will be held on January 30, in Bucharest, Cioaba said. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/
 

HUNGARIANS INTERESTED IN HIGHER INCOME RATHER THAN IN AUTONOMY 
BUCHAREST - Hungarian ethnics in Romania seem to be different from the
way they are perceived. Thus, the Hungarian community is less interested
in the cultural or territorial autonomy, displaying a realistic stance
toward the accession to the European Union and the day-to-day problems,
according to a poll of the Inter-ethnic Research Center in Cluj-Napoca,
made at the request of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, or
UDMR. On the other hand, most of Hungarians in Romania support UDMR and
its involvement into the government. 
"The bulk or 90% of the Hungarians would vote for UDMR and over a half
of the interviewed persons agree with UDMR's decision to take part in
the government," according to a sociologic poll ordered by UDMR and
performed by the Research Center of Inter-ethnic Relations, called
"Hungarians in Romania." Some 72.1% of the respondents said UDMR's
involvement in the Ruling Coalition was positive for the Hungarians in
Romania as well as for Romanians in general. The bulk or some 91% of the
respondents said the Hungarian community should be represented in the
Parliament of Romania. 
The Union enjoys a considerable creditworthiness among the Hungarian
population, between the church and the European Union. The church
accounted for 88% of the respondents' confidence, while the European
Union for 78%. "The emigration trend to the other parties from two or
three years ago has now shaded. UDMR's contribution to the governing has
increased ethnically as well as socially and accounts for 7 or 8% of the
population's preference," one of the survey's researcher Horvath Istvan
told "Cotidianul". 
Some 15% of the respondents said the autonomy is a real personal issue,
while some 36% of them said the salary and pension hike, the
unemployment decrease is a real problem. 
Half of the respondents said Romania's accession to the European Union
is a positive fact, while over three quarters of the respondents believe
Romania is hardly prepared for the accession. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/


BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY TO PERMIT HUNGARIAN SIGNS
CLUJ-NAPOCA - "A resolution passed by the Babes-Bolyai University in
Cluj-Napoca will take effect in July when Hungarian language signs will
be put in place," Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu wrote
in a letter to his Hungarian counterpart Kinga Goncz. 
Ungureanu also promised that busts of Hungarian and German historical
figures will be placed around the university campus, and some rooms will
be named after distinguished Hungarians and Germans. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/


UDMR SETTLES CANDIDATES LISTS FOR EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
BUCHAREST - Romania's communications minister Nagy Zsolt and minister
delegate for Commerce Iuliu Winkler ranks the first two positions on the
list of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, or UDMR, at the
elections for the European Parliament, UDMR's Operative Council said
Tuesday, January 23. 
The list of UDMR candidates will be authorized by UDMR's Council of
Representatives. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/


ROMANIANS ABROAD INTERESTED IN DOUBLE CITIZENSHIP 
TIMISOARA - Once with Romania's accession to the European Union on
January 1, the Romanian passport becomes an important document, which
guarantees additional rights and liberties. The Romanian ethnics abroad
(especially those in the Republic of Moldova and Serbia) are more
interested in acquiring Romanian citizenship. A delegation of the
Romanian Community in Serbia met Friday, January 19, with Timis prefect
Ovidiu Draganescu, to discuss about the possibility of getting double
citizenship, in order to benefit from the rights of citizens in the
European Union. 
The representatives of the Romanian community in Serbia said they want
to benefit from the same rights as the Serbians' community in Romania. 
On the other hand, president Traian Basescu said Friday, January 19,
during the foreign policy speech on 2007, the authorities will support
the Romanians abroad, wherever they are. The president started the year
by paying three visits to the countries with significant Romanian
communities: Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Serbia. "I wanted to
personally reassure them (the Romanian abroad - e.n.) that the country's
accession to the European Union will not split up the borders," Basescu
said. 
Traian Basescu stressed out the case of the Republic of Moldova, where
Romanians are in majority and said the authorities in Bucharest should
promote the Romanian identity, through all the legal means and financial
educational and cultural means of the Romanian state. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/


"SONG OF DEPORTED" GERMANS TO THE SOVIET REPUBLIC SUNG AFTER 62 YEARS
RESITA - The deportation of the German ethnics to the former Soviet
Republic on January 18, 1945, was commemorated last week, in Resita,
through a meeting of the survivors back then, organized at the
headquarters of German Library "Alexander Tietz". 
Some 10,000 persons were deported in 1945 from Caras-Severin, out of
whom some 200 German ethnics are still living. Some 30% of the deported
people died far away from their families, which have not been even
announced about their death. 
They talked about the unbearable freezing weather, and about the hunger.
One of the guests said he had only 36 kilos at 26 years old, after
having been deported. They remembered that on January 15, the deported
people were taken away from their homes and brought to a place that
currently hosts Theoretical high school Diaconovici-Tietz in Resita.
They subsequently arrived to Russia, on January 22. 
Author: DIVERS - http://www.divers.ro/

-----------------------------------
DIVERS - News bulletin about ethnic minorities living in Romania is
edited every week by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, with the
financial support of Project on Ethnic Relations - Regional Center for
Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Partial or full reproduction
of the information contained in DIVERS is allowed only if the source is
mentioned. You can send messages and suggestions regarding the content
of DIVERS bulletin at Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, at the
e-mail address:
marian@birn.eu.com

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