Mircea Răceanu United States, Răceanu became an American secret agent, giving information from an insider's point-of-view on the politics of Romania and information on human rights and religious freedom. He claimed that he sent no national security or military information and that he betrayed his ruler, but not his country. In fact, Ceauşescu claimed during a talk with Rabbi Arthur Schneier that Răceanu did not actually leak any real secrets, but "betrayed me personally". In 1989, a group of six former Romanian Communist officials, including his stepfather, Grigore Răceanu, signed an open letter which was a critique of Nicolae Ceauşescu's policies. Mircea
Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu 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 typical of kangaroo courts and show trials, the main charge was genocide—namely, murdering "over 60,000 people" during the revolution in Timișoara. Other sources put the death toll between 689