Victor Atanasie Stănculescu
Victor Atanasie Stănculescu
1928–2016
○ Convicted: 15 yrs for manslaughter; paroled 2014
The Romanian general who switched sides on the morning of the revolution and brought down a dictator
On the morning of 22 December, he asked a trusted doctor to put a plaster cast on his perfectly healthy left leg, hoping to avoid being sent back to crush the revolution.
A Romanian communist artillery officer, he rose to deputy defense minister by 1986. On 22 December 1989, moments after Ceaușescu appointed him defense minister, he issued the order withdrawing troops to barracks, then organized the dictator's helicopter escape before defecting to the revolution. On 25 December he organized and oversaw the drumhead trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. After the revolution he served as defense minister and national economy minister, but in 2008 was convicted of aggravated manslaughter for the Timișoara crackdown and sentenced to fifteen years.
Career Timeline
- 1949Graduates from Sibiu Artillery Officer School
- 1952–1981Artillery and logistics staff officer, rises to colonel
- 1981–1986Deputy Minister of National Defense
- 1986–1989First Deputy Minister of National Defense
- 1989.12.17–20Dispatched to command crackdown on Timișoara uprising
- 1989.12.22Appointed defense minister; issues Order 38 recalling troops to barracks, joins revolution
- 1989.12.25Organizes the drumhead trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu
- 1990–1991Minister of National Economy → Minister of National Defense