Radu Filipescu (born December 26, 1955cpcadcr.presidency.ro/upload/Radu_Filipescu.pdf) is a former

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n anti-Communist dissident. Radu Filipescu's maternal uncle, Victor Groza, is the brother of

Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Commu ...

, the first Communist Prime Minister of Romania. During

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

's regime, Filipescu was imprisoned for several years for "propaganda against the socialist order".

Early life

Filipescu was born on December 26, 1955, in

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the List of cities and towns in Romania, 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 Romania ...

, the youngest son of Zorel Filipescu and Carmelita-Ileana Filipescu. From 1974 to 1979, he studied electronics at

Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Politehnica din București) is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. 200 years of activity have been celebrated lately, as the university was founded in 1818.Palace Square Palace Square ( rus, Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, r=Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, p=dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg a ...

in Bucharest. On May 7, 1983, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served almost three years at the

Rahova Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmboviţa River. It is named after the Bulgarian town ''Rahovo'' (today Oryahovo), site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence. The neighborh ...

Jilava Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin (Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as ''j ...

, and

Aiud Aiud (; la, Brucla, hu, Nagyenyed, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Straßburg am Mieresch) is a city located in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. The city's population is 22,876. It has the status of municipality and is the 2nd-largest c ...

prisons. In December 1984, he was named

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

's Prisoner of the Month. With his family acknowledging his case abroad, international pressure from several

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(including the

French Human Rights League French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

International Society for Human Rights The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) is an international non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization with Participative Status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the Liaison Committee of the Non-Governmental O ...

, and the Swiss organization ''Le Pavé''), and the efforts of politicians from Western Europe and the United States, Filipescu was released from prison on April 18, 1986. In 1987, after attempting to organize a referendum against Ceauşescu's leadership, he was arrested on December 12 and was interrogated and beaten by

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

officers. After a quick response from human rights organizations and radio broadcasters, including

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, RFI,

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

, and

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, he was released on December 22, 1987, without an indictment. He was arrested a third time on December 22, 1989, but was released that same day at noon. In May 1988, Filipescu and other political dissidents tried to start a free trade union, called "Libertatea" (Freedom). However, Securitate threats against those who tried to join squelched popular support.

Civic activity after 1989

After the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...

of 1989, Radu Filipescu founded the Group for Social Dialogue and was elected president in 1998. He is a founding member of APADOR-CH, and founder and president of the Association of Revolutionaries without Privileges.

Later life

Radu Filipescu patented the "Parrot Clip" (European patent 0563234, United States patent 5,457,392), an intended replacement to the

alligator clip Alligator clip A crocodile clip or alligator clip is a plier-like spring-tensioned metal clip with elongated, serrated jaws that is used for creating a temporary electrical connection. This simple mechanical device gets its name from the rese ...

. It was awarded the gold medal at the 1991 Eureka World Fair of Inventions in Brussels. He founded the company "Parrot Invent SRL" in 1992.

Personal life

In 1988, Radu married Daniela Filipescu, a Romanian

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

at the C.C. Iliescu Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases in Bucharest. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Society of Anesthesiology and is the Deputy General Secretary of the Romanian Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care. They have one son, Radu-Zorel Filipescu, who was born on February 2, 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filipescu, Radu 1955 births Living people Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni Romanian dissidents Inmates of Aiud prison People from Târgu Mureș