Victor Babiuc

Born in Răchiți, Botoșani County, into a family of teachers, he graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest in 1958, earning his doctorate there in 1979.

[3] Entering politics after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, from March to June 1990, he was an expert to the constitutional committee of the Provisional National Unity Council, the country's temporary legislative body.

[4] This was followed over the next two years by two ministerial stints: Justice under Prime Minister Petre Roman and Interior under PM Theodor Stolojan.

[2] Again elected in 1996, he was on the following committees: investigating abuses, corruption and petitions (1996–2000); culture, art and mass media (1998); European integration (1998–2000); and defense, public order and national security (2000).

Reversing a differentiation of police and military roles that had begun to take shape prior to 1996, Babiuc announced that the army was available to intervene domestically,[14] leading to serious strain between him and the officer corps.

On the one hand, Babiuc encouraged the 1997 opening of army files relating to the event, saying it would free them from the stigma of suspicion and that investigations should proceed unhampered.

On the other hand, following the 1999 conviction of Generals Victor Stănculescu and Mihai Chițac for ordering shooting while repressing the uprising in Timișoara, he stressed that the two personally "did not harm anybody" and "played a decisive role" in turning the army to the side of the Revolution.

[17][18] When he left the PD in early 2000, he also resigned from his ministerial post, and sat in the Chamber as an independent until the end of the year.

[19] In 2008, prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate opened a criminal case against Babiuc, charging him with bribery and abuse of office for a 1999 sale of land in Pipera at well below the market rate from the Defense Ministry to businessman Gigi Becali.