Contact Admin. Romania, a country of approximately Traian Basescu was elected president in December in elections characterized by irregularities, but which were judged generally free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The government made increasing attempts to address human rights issues during the year; however, human rights abuses continued to occur.
The following human rights problems were reported:. There were no politically motivated killings by the government or its agents, although there were allegations that three extrajudicial killings had occurred. Nongovernmental organizations NGOs reported suspicious circumstances surrounding the January 11 death in Buzau of year-old Dumitru Ciobu, who had been taken into custody after neighbors complained that he was disturbing public order. Ciobu reported feeling ill and died in police custody en route to the hospital.
According to the forensic report, he died of a hemorrhage resulting from pancreatic cancer, but NGOs questioned the rapid progression of the disease and called for an investigation into the matter to determine if the death resulted from possible police abuse.
No investigation had been initiated by year's end. On August 6, railway transportation police shot and killed a year-old man, Gheorghe Cazanciuc, while he was allegedly stealing copper wires. The police reported that Cazanciuc attempted to flee the scene.
