The Rumanian Supreme Court upheld today sentences of hard labor for life which had been imposed on Col. Ramiro Negruzzi and Lt. Radu Ionescu, war criminals convicted by a Bucharest court on charges of having killed 50 Jews, the whole Jewish population of Hancesti, Moldavia.
The Supreme Court ruled that the defense appeals from the sentences were without foundation. In addition to the life terms, the defendants were deprived of civil rights and their property confiscated.
The massacre occurred during the war after a Rumanian regiment under Negruzzi’s command entered the village and ordered a roundup of the Jewish population. The men were commanded to dig their own graves, then face a firing squad. Captain Milsoveanu, who was to head the firing squad, refused to give the signal, and Lt. Ionescu volunteered for the assignment.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
