It was also the last removal of a Marxist—Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of , and the only one that violently overthrew a country's leadership and executed its leader; according to estimates, over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured. In April , when Romania published a general policy paper worked out under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej 's instructions, the country was well on its way of carefully breaking away from Soviet control.
However, repression again intensified by the s. The country's ubiquitous secret police force, the Securitate , which was both one of the largest in the Eastern Bloc and for decades had been the main suppressor of popular dissent, frequently and violently quashing political disagreement, ultimately proved incapable of stopping the looming, and then highly fatal and successful revolt.
Social and economic malaise had been present in the Socialist Republic of Romania for quite some time, especially during the austerity years of the s. Evading capture by hastily departing via helicopter effectively portrayed the couple as both fugitives and also seemingly guilty of accused crimes.
They were convicted on all charges, sentenced to death, and immediately executed on Christmas Day They were the last people to be condemned to death and executed in Romania , as capital punishment was abolished soon after. Although news reports at the time and media today will make reference to the Securitate fighting against the revolution, there has never been any evidence to support the claim of an organised effort against the revolution by the Securitate.
Elected in a landslide the following May, the FSN reconstituted as a political party, installed a series of economic and democratic reforms, [ 16 ] with further social policy changes being implemented by later governments.
