Nicolae Cristea (communist) Nicolae Cristea (communist) Nicolas or Nicolae Cristea (also known under the "nom de guerre" Joseph Copla; November 26, 1906 – March 1943) was a Romanian communist, a volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and in the French Resistance during World War II. Cristea was born in a poor workers family in Galaţi. During the Great Depression he participated in the protests organized by the Romanian Communist Party in Bucharest, afterwards being forced by the Siguranţa Statului (Romania's secret police) to move back to his native town. He returned to Bucharest in 1931, and in 1933 was
Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu of public trial. The United States was the most prominent critic of the trial, stating: "We regret the trial did not take place in an open and public fashion." Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu The trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu was a short trial held on 25 December 1989 by an Exceptional Military Tribunal, a drumhead court-martial created at the request of the Council of the National Salvation Front, resulting in the death sentence and execution of former Romanian President and Romanian Communist Party General Secretary, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu. Marked by irregularities that are