Written question No. 742 to the Committee of Ministers | Doc. 14977 | 02 October 2019
The illegal occupation of the military cemetery in Valea Uzului/Úz-völgye
In April 2019, Hungarians from Romania learned that the local government of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva (Bacău county) had illegally taken ownership of a First World War German, Austrian and Hungarian military cemetery belonging to the jurisdiction of the village of Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton. Under the guise of “refurbishment”, officials from Dărmănești/Dormánfalva put up numerous crosses made of concrete on the graves, and they have also erected a monument featuring legionary symbols, in memory of the Romanian soldiers that fought in the Second World War. The aforementioned local administration had no official permit to conduct these works, as later confirmed by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Culture, as well as the Bacău County Prefect’s Office, and yet, no legal action was initiated.
The situation got even worse on 6 June, when several thousand Romanian commemorators forcefully broke into the cemetery and attacked the crowd of Hungarian civilians and public personalities from Szeklerland, who had come together to form a human chain around the cemetery in order to prevent the illegal takeover. After arriving on the scene, the group of Romanian commemorators (that included several violent football hooligans) demanded that the cemetery gate be opened, shouting: “Out with the Hungarians from the country!” The Romanian group broke the cemetery gate, smashed several wooden crosses that marked the memory of Hungarian soldiers and hit Hungarians with flagpoles and rods torn from the fence.
The competent authorities failed to bring charges against the illegal occupation of the cemetery, none of the people breaking into the cemetery and violently attacking the Hungarian group were prosecuted.
Considering the gravity of the situation and the potential for the escalation of interethnic conflict, while also acknowledging the crucial role that the Council of Europe has played ever since its foundation in preventing interethnic conflict, as well as promoting dialogue between different communities,
Mr Tilki
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
Would the Committee of Ministers commission a report on the circumstances prior to, during, as well as after the appropriation by the local government of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva of the military cemetery in Valea Uzului/Úz-völgye?