On the morning of December 22, 1989, Bogdan Stan drank his usual cup of coffee and went to join the wave of protests against Romania’s communist regime. Almost 30 years later, his mother Elena Bancila was one of around 600 victims and relatives who gathered Friday in Bucharest for the opening stage of former president Ion Iliescu’s crimes against humanity trial — the most prominent leader to face charges over those events. Bancila, now 75, believes Iliescu, who took control of the government on December 22, is responsible for the death of her son.
