Ceauşescu mystery to be laid to rest

"Ceausescu’s DNA!" headlines Adevărul. More than 20 years after their execution, the remains of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu were exhumed on 21 July in Bucharest. The initiative to confirm the identity of the bodies of the dictator and his wife “is a victory for the perseverance of two men, their son Valentin, and their son-in-law Mircea Oprean,” explains the daily. The state’s reluctance to reveal details of exactly what happened in December 1989 has prompted comparisons between the Ceauşescus and the family of Tsar Nicolas II who were executed by the Bolsheviks. “Like the Romanov family, the Ceauşescus were condemned by an ad-hoc trial and summarily executed on Christmas day in a procedure,” Adevărul remarks, “that had all the sophistication of an African tribal court.”