Ion Iliescu

Ion Iliescu (3 March 1930 – 5 August 2025) was a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the first and third President of Romania since the country's transition to democracy, from 1990 to 1996 and 2000 to 2004. Iliescu was also a senator for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which he founded and where he became the honorary president for the rest of his life.

Iliescu joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1953 and became a member of its Central Committee in 1965. Beginning with 1971, he was gradually marginalised by Nicolae Ceaușescu. He had a leading role in the Romanian Revolution, becoming the country's president in December 1989. In May 1990, he became Romania's first freely elected head of state. After a new constitution was approved by popular referendum, he served a further two terms, firstly from 1992 to 1996 and then secondly from 2000 to 2004, separated by the presidency of Emil Constantinescu, who defeated him in 1996.

In 2004, during his presidency, Romania joined NATO and negotiations to join the EU intensified. In April 2018, Iliescu was charged in Romania with committing crimes against humanity by "approving military measures, some of which had an evidently diversionary character" during the deadly aftermath of the country's 1989 revolution. In 2020, a judge rejected the case due to irregularities in the indictment. The indictment was remade; in 2023, the Court of Appeals approved a trial for it. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living president of Romania.