Romanias Roma demand restitution

15 July 1997

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on May 15 that the Roma community in Romania is demanding the restitution of goods confiscated by the fascist and communist regimes. The lon Budai Deleanu Foundation and Roma leader Iulian Radulescu, who calls himself Emperor Iulian I, say in a letter addressed to the Parliament, the president's office and the Council of Europe, that the regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu and the Communists confiscated goods estimated at 12,500 billion lei (approximately 1780 million USD) from the Roma community. Mediafax reported that the letter also demands a census be conducted to establish the real number of Roma living today in Romania. The 1992 census put the number at less than half a million, but estimates speak of three million and more. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)