Two retired Romanian generals have each been sentenced to 15-years in jail for their role in the killing of protestors during the 1989 anti-communist revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is final. In 1999 former Deputy Defence Minister Victor Stanculescu and Mihai Chitac, ex-head of the army’s chemical weapons department, were sentenced on aggravated murder charges for ordering troops to open fire on demonstrators in Timisoara.

Seventy-two people were shot dead and 253 wounded in four days of street battles in December 1989. However in 2001, the country’s prosecutor ordered re-trials for the two men in what was seen as a politically-motivated move. Again in 2007, both were found guilty but appealed. The pair, now in their 80’s, said throughout the long trial that they had only carried out orders.

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