Virgil Măgureanu Virgil Măgureanu Virgil Măgureanu, (; born March 19, 1941) is a Romanian sociologist that was the head of the main intelligence service of Romania, Serviciul Român de Informații, or SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service) between March 26, 1990 and April 25, 1997 (when he resigned following a disclosure about his personal wealth, made at television while Virgil Măgureanu was among the invited people). Măgureanu was one of the members of the Military Tribunal that sentenced to death both Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena on December 25, the Christmas Day of 1989, the former Communist leaders of Romania. According to the
Alexandru Drăghici As historian Marius Oprea notes, this initiative of his was the culmination of periodic antisemitic purges inside and outside the party structures. When Gheorghiu-Dej died in March 1965, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Chivu Stoica, and Emil Bodnăraș, fearful of seeing Drăghici come to power, all backed Ceaușescu as the new leader. Maurer also considered that Ceaușescu had stood up to Khrushchev, while Drăghici was seen as a loyal follower of the Soviet Union. Bacon writes: "So powerful was the apparatus of terror that its chief, Alexandru Dr[ă]ghici, challenged Ceau[ș]escu for political power following Gheorghiu-Dej's death. It is a tribute to Ceau[ș]escu's