Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu has been laid to rest

The coffin containing the body of former president Ion Iliescu was lowered into the crypt.

The Romanian national anthem, „Awaken, Romanian,” was played while 21 gun salutes were fired at the grave.

This moment effectively concluded the funeral ceremony.

The service at Ghencea III Cemetery was private, and it is not yet known who took the flag raised on the coffin of former President Ion Iliescu. Normally, the flag is handed over to the family, but Ion Iliescu’s wife, Nina, was unable to attend the funeral due to poor health.

Ion Iliescu was born on March 3, 1930, in Oltenița, Călărași County, and died on August 5, 2025.

Ion Iliescu led the Romanian state three times, as president of the CFSN between December 22, 1989, and 1992, and as elected president of Romania between 1992 and 1996 and 2000 and 2004. Between 1996–2000 and 2004–2008, he was a senator representing the PSD. Iliescu was also honorary president of the PSD.

Ghencea III Military Cemetery, preparing for farewell. Ion Iliescu will be buried on Thursday

Embassy of Russia: Ion Iliescu, a remarkable statesman

Ion Iliescu was born in 1930 in Oltenița. He graduated from Spiru Haret High School in Bucharest in 1949, after which he studied fluid mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He then went to the Energy Institute of Moscow University. During his stay in Moscow, he was secretary of the „Association of Romanian Students.”

On August 19, 1956, he was elected president of the Student Associations Organizing Committee, then of the Council (March 1957). He later became head of department at the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (1965) and first secretary of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Youth Union. He also served as head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and was minister for youth affairs between 1967 and 1971.

In 1971, Nicolae Ceaușescu, who felt threatened by Iliescu because he was seen by many as a successor to the presidency, marginalized him by removing him from major political positions. Iliescu was appointed vice-president of the Timiș County Council between 1971 and 1974, then president of the Iași County Council (1974-1979). In 1979, he was appointed president of the National Water Council. In 1984, he was appointed director of the Technical Publishing House, a position he held until December 1989.