There has now been one year since the last political detainees in Tyraspol, the members of the Ilascu group, were set free. Along the years ZIUA pleaded for their freedom. And now we have gone to Chishinau to see how their lives look like. The situation of the Dniester heroes hasn't improved significantly. Tudor Petrov Popa and Andrei Ivantoc spent 15 harsh years of illegal prison. Alexandru Lesco was released 4 years ago after 12 years of suffering in Tyraspol. Although they have got Romanian citizenship and were awarded with the National Order "The Star of Romania", although they are beneficiaries of a rank such as honorary citizens of Bucharest, the three can't live in Romania, because they have got no identity cards. They have got no residence in Romania because the flats they were promised to get in Bucharest have never become theirs. The Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu gave them cell phones for permanent use. But after about one month they just stopped for good. The government could give no explanation. Moreover, a law draft eleborated by senator Adrian Paunescu, meant to grant the heroes tortured and imprisoned for more than 5,000 days with the same rights as those of the 1989 Romanian revolutionaries, was dismissed because of some Romanian deputies' opposition. And there were MPs to remake the heroes' list and stealthily cut Alexandru Lesco from it. And this is just the top of the iceberg, for the 3 heroes are still facing hardships. The could shoulder they are getting from the state of Romania shows they are taken for Moldovans. Even if they are heroes for Romania, they are treated like "second-hand Romanians". (...) Muffling the historical truth The release of all the political detainees in Transdniestria is finally making room for the historical truth about this much tormented page in the uneasy chronicle of the first decades of the independent state proclaimed on the ruins of the "Ribbentrop-Molotov Republic". In spite of this, one year after the three heroes were awarded, we can notice that ingratitude is turning into ingratitude of state. Early this year the members of Romanian deputies' juridical committee quarrelled one hour and a half because of a law project aimed at making Ilie Ilascu, Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov Popa - for the name of Alexandru Lasco vanished mysteriously - martyr-heroes. Senator Adrian Paunescu, one of the initiators, argued: "These Romanians who were on an estranged Romanian territory, the Moldovan Republic, did heroic deeds. They were sentenced to death or life prison. It is an honor for us to do at least this. Prove solidarity, especially at times when they are ill." The sentor also asked the committee members to add Alexandru Lascu in the title and the contents of the law text. And at present, after the Senate consented to the proposal, the draft is stuck in a drawer, forgotten by the MPs. (...)

Victor RONCEA