Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, who has been diagnosed with lung cancer, remains in intensive care, not capable of moving independently or taking care of himself, the Emergency Clinical Hospital Prof. Dr. Agrippa Ionescu said on Thursday.
In early June, the 95-year-old former state leader was hospitalized due to his deteriorating condition and respiratory symptoms. Doctors performed surgery and later determined that he had lung cancer.
“We note that amid the evolution of the underlying disease, correlating with frailty associated with old age and existing collateral diseases, the index of physical performance has been significantly reduced, with almost complete limitation of the ability to self-care or mobility. [Iliescu] is still in the hospital in the intensive care unit, where he receives extended medical care under the supervision of a multidisciplinary medical team,” the hospital said in a statement.
The medical team said that the former president was conscious, although he needed supplemental oxygen.
Iliescu served three terms as President of Romania: from 1989 to 1992, from 1992 to 1996, and from 2000 to 2004. He has not appeared in public in recent years. The politician posted his last message on his blog after the May presidential election, congratulating Nicusor Dan on his victory.
In April 2024, the Romanian Prosecutor General’s Office charged the former president with crimes against humanity. Military prosecutors allege that on June 11 and 12 in 1990, the country’s authorities decided to launch a violent attack on demonstrators holding a peaceful anti-government protest in Bucharest’s University Square. The prosecutors accused the former president of allegedly ordering the forced dispersal, resulting in four shootings, two sexual assaults, 1,388 cases of physical or mental harm and 1,250 political imprisonments.
