Sentence of conviction no. 38 of 22 January 1965
MILITARY TRIBUNAL BUCUREȘTI
Case no. 310/1964
SENTENCE NO. 38
Today, 22 January 1965
The Military Tribunal of Bucharest, sitting in the town of Târgu Neamț, Bacău reg., constituted according to law:
PRESIDENT: Lieutenant Colonel of Justice ALDEA MATEI
Ases. Popular: Captain Ene Eugen
Ases. Popular: Captain Ene Gheorghe
Military Prosecutor: Captain of Justice Duma Gheorghe
Secretary: Captain of Justice Bozaș Teodor,
convened in public session, in accordance with the legal provisions, for the purpose of hearing the case concerning the accused:
Civ. MĂNDIȚĂ NICOLAE, born on 14.10.1889 in Bunești commune, Curtea de Argeș county, Argeș reg., son of Ioniță and Filofteia, residing at Agapia Monastery, district of Tg. Neamt, Bacău reg., profession priest – protosynkellos, unmarried, no personal wealth, removed from the C.M. records for overage, 76 years old, no criminal record (f. 112), education 5 elementary classes, social origin peasant, no party, at liberty, accused of the crime of distributing prohibited publications, p.p. of art. 325 par. 3 lit. c of the Criminal Code and speculation, p.p. of art. 268/17 lit. c C.pen.
At the roll call, which took place in open court, the accused appeared without a lawyer, stating that he would defend himself.
The President established the defendant’s identity, which was the same as the one mentioned in the interrogation on file.
The proceedings were closed.
The clerk called the witnesses proposed by the prosecution, namely Perju Petre, Plugaru Dumitru, Maxim Constantin and Albu Gheorghe, who were present.
The President ordered the witnesses to be brought into the designated room.
The clerk read out the indictment from the case file and the President questioned the accused, which was attached to the case file.
The hearing then proceeded with the examination of the aforementioned witnesses, whose statements, taken in accordance with the law, were also annexed to the file.
Both the Military Prosecutor and the accused stated that they had no further evidence to request in the case and requested that the trial be continued.
THE COURT
Deliberated in secret in accordance with the provisions of the law;
Considering that both the Military Prosecutor and the Accused have declared that they have no further evidence to request in this case;
Considering that there is no further evidence to be taken ex officio and that the case is ready for trial;
For the foregoing reasons, the Court, by unanimous vote, takes note of the declarations of the parties that they have no further evidence to request in the case and orders the trial to proceed on the merits.
Delivered and read in open court today, 22.01.1965.
The military prosecutor, speaking on the merits of the case, explained the circumstances under which the accused had contacted Poițelea Vasile in 1926 and formed a group of distributers of mystical-religious books and pamphlets, as well as objects of worship (crosses, candles, icons), of which Magirescu Ion, Magirescu Costache, Palade Gheorghe and Bălan Grigore were also members. The prosecutor also pointed out that the defendant was the author of various pamphlets and books containing hostile, antisocial ideas, which were distributed by the group. He then analysed various passages in the books written by the defendant, which showed that he was trying to divert working people from their goal of building a socialist society by claiming that happiness was in heaven and not on earth and that they no longer had to work as they were required to in order to lead a better life. In order to emphasise the anti-social nature of the books and pamphlets written by the defendants, the military prosecutor read out the report of the Department of Religious Affairs, which was attached to the case file, stating that all these materials found during the search of the defendants’ homes and distributed by them were prohibited by law. He then mentioned that this was also known to the defendants who, after 1948, carried out their activity in secret by distributing the materials to people they trusted and, in order not to be found, took the measure of placing copies in tin boxes hidden in attics or around wells. The military prosecutor argued that the defendant’s act of writing and distributing prohibited pamphlets was proven by his admissions, which were corroborated by the statements of the other co-defendants, the testimony of witnesses heard in the case, the corpus delicti and the technical expertise on file. In conclusion, the military prosecutor requested that the defendant Măndiță Nicolae be found guilty of the offence of distributing prohibited publications, as provided for in Article 325(3)(a) of the Criminal Code, with application of Article 25(6)(2) of the Criminal Code and Article 80 of the Criminal Code, and that he be ordered to pay the costs. With regard to the offence under Article 268/17(c) of the Criminal Code, the Military Prosecutor stated that the evidence in the case did not prove that the accused had speculated with religious cult materials, and therefore stated that he was dropping the charges for this offence.
The defendant, Măndiță Nicolae, who had taken the floor in his defence, argued that he was innocent because he was working for the good of the people, following the path that our ancestors had followed for 19 centuries.
The President then asked the accused if he had anything to add in his defence, to which the accused replied in his last word that he wished to be acquitted.
The President declared the case closed and the Court retired to chambers to deliberate on the guilt of the accused.
THE COURT
Deliberating in camera, as required by law;
On the criminal proceedings instituted by the indictment of 04.11.1964 by the Criminal Investigation Department of the M.A.I., Dir. Reg. Bucharest, against the accused Măndiță Nicolae, charged with the offence of distribution of prohibited publications, under Article 325(3)(p.) of the Criminal Code, of the Criminal Investigation Act of 1964, of 11.04.1964, against the accused Măndiță Nicolae, charged with the offence of distribution of prohibited publications, under Article 325(3)(p.) of the Criminal Code. c C.pen. and speculation, p.p. of art. 268/17 lit. c C.pen;
Having regard to the oral submissions made by the Military Prosecutor and the submissions made by the accused in person before the Court in open court;
Having regard to the oral investigation conducted in open court and the documents on file, which were submitted to the parties in open court, it is found as follows:
IN FACT:
The accused, MĂNDIȚĂ NICOLAE, belongs to a group of 11 perpetrators (Poițelea Vasile and others), who were convicted by this court by judgment no. 10 of 09/01/1965, against whom the case was dismissed because he was unable to attend the trial, being ill and unable to be transported.
In the past, the aforementioned had been an artillery officer and had participated in the battles of the First World War. In 1920, he became a monk at the Măgura Hermitage Monastery, where he was later ordained a priest.
He was a priest in several parishes until 1933, when he moved to Agapia Monastery, first as a priest and then as a protosynkellos, from where he was transferred to Văratec Monastery in 1945.
He remained in this monastery until 1961, when he was retired and returned to Agapia Monastery, where he still resides.
In 1926, the defendant Măndița Nicolae got in touch with Poițelea Vasile from Bucharest, whom he encouraged to set up a group of distributers of church materials.
Following this encouragement, Poițelea Vasile organised the group of distributers, which included the late Ion Magirescu, Măgirescu Costache, Palade Gheorghe and Bălan Grigore.
They were responsible for the distribution of religious books and pamphlets, as well as religious objects in Bucharest and in various places in the country, an activity in which they also involved Ionescu Jorj, Chiuaru Nicolae, Popa Elena, Tupu Anica, Stoica Gheorghe and Lazăr Dumitru.
It should be noted that after 1948, when their licence to peddle was revoked, the group carried out this activity clandestinely until 1964, when they were discovered by the authorities.
The material distributed by the group was printed in various printing houses in Bucharest, Botoșani, Roman and Bacău.
The investigations carried out revealed that the group possessed a quantity of approximately 500,000 volumes, which were stored in 4 warehouses, namely: in the houses of Poițelea Vasile, Măgirescu Costache, Palade Gheorghe and Bălan Grigore, in Bucharest, Bd. Republicii no. 21, and in str. Sf. Petru Tei no. 37, at the residence of Drăgan Ion, in Bucharest, Serg. Scarlat str., nr. 43 and at the residence of the named Măndiță Constantin, in the village Bunești, commune Zărnești, district Curtea de Argeș.
The books and pamphlets in the possession and distribution of the accused are of an antisocial nature, urging readers to avoid worrying about the problems of material life, advocating monasticism and containing anti-communist ideas, and are intended to prepare the psychological ground desired by the enemies of our regime, who do not look favourably on the current conquests of the people and the fact that people today are transforming themselves by freeing themselves from the superstitions of the past.
Most of the works distributed by the group were written by the defendant, Măndiță Nicolae, who was considered by all the members of the group to be their “spiritual father” and who enjoyed a special authority in their eyes.
In his works, the defendant dealt with a number of mystical-religious themes that were hostile to the democratic popular regime in the P.R.R..
For example, in the pamphlet “Divine Providence”, the defendant writes that “a country without God would be doomed to final destruction”; that “those who deny the existence of God would descend into the ranks of the non-living”; and “if there were only Christian teachers in schools, what good young people would come out of them, how well they would run the country”.
The pamphlets “The Fountain of Mischief” and “The Exhibition of Modern Idols” try to create a falsified image of contemporary life and reality in our country, of the education of young people. In the pamphlet “The Exhibition of Modern Idols”, the defendant says that young people are dragged by their parents and elders to pubs, balls, parties and other places of soul-destroying activities, that parents are despised and beaten, landlords and masters are cursed, He goes on to say that ‘the good will of people, parties, songs, games, dress, except that of nuns in women, are classified as demonic acts, as cursed, devilish customs.
These ideas are repeated and treated by the defendant in other pamphlets distributed by the group, such as “The Sin of Make-up”, “Through the Thorns to God”, “The Monk’s Cross”, etc.
In another pamphlet, “The World and the Soul”, on pages 771-774, the defendant writes: “The Romanian will be resurrected if he loves his Church, if he follows the teachings of the Holy Gospel and those of enlightened Romanians with true Christian teachings, if he goes to church, if he listens to the priests.”
In the pamphlets “Antihristica”, “Familia” and “The Real Church” it is stated that the Bolsheviks waged war against God, that they abolished the faith, that they murdered priests and monks, while praising the Nazis and Fascists who unleashed the Second World War.
The same themes, hostile to our popular democratic regime, are repeated by the defendant Măndiță Nicolae in his works “Apocalyptic Sights” (38 volumes), “The Spiritual Mirror”, “The Aerial Toll Houses”, “The Cycle of Sermons”, “The Priest’s Guide” and others.
Thus, in the “Apocalyptic Views”, it is shown that science would be vain, the tree whose fruit would bring death, that unbelief would lead to suicide and plunge the whole family into perdition, that atheistic rationalism and religious indifferentism would be the most unsuccessful materialism, the Antichrist of all times.
In “The Aerial Toll Houses”, the accused propagates antisocial ideas, from which it follows that games and songs are a school of Satan, that reading bad books, magazines and newspapers is terribly painful, that Christians should not talk to heretics, etc.
In 1948, after their licence to peddle had been withdrawn, the accused went to Bucharest to the home of the group of distributers, to whom he gave instructions on how to carry out their activity of secretly distributing the forbidden material.
At the same time, the defendant instructed the authorities to obtain a typewriter on which Gheorghe Palade would type a number of his writings.
On several occasions, in the monasteries where he was staying – Văratec or Agapia – he was visited by Poițelea Vasile, Măgirescu Costache, Palade Gheorghe and Bălan Grigore, who brought him the typewritten works of Palade Gheorghe, in order to check them and possibly complete them.
The defendant personally attracted to the group of distributers the names Ionescu Jorj, Țupu Anica and Chioaru Nicolae, fanatical members of the banned association “Oastea Domnului”, through which he distributed a number of banned books and pamphlets, from which he received sums of money. The defendant also put them in contact with the group of distributers in Bucharest, where the above-mentioned persons went several times and from where they collected large quantities of hostile material, some of which they distributed themselves and some of which they gave to the defendant, who distributed it to people coming to the monastery.
Fearing possible persecution at home, knowing that he was carrying out an illegal activity, in 1960 the accused gave Jorj Ionescu and Popa Costache a copy of his works, typed by Gheorghe Palade, to be kept at their homes in the communes of Grigoreni and Scorțeni, Bacău reg.
The accused also carried out hostile activities within the “Oastea Domnului” association, encouraging its members to continue their activities through meetings held under the guise of baptisms, weddings or family celebrations.
During the search of the defendant’s house, a large number of forbidden books and pamphlets were found, including the magazines “Annunciation”, “The Legionary Worker” and “Communism Unmasked”, as well as the sum of 43,000 lei, obtained through clandestine means, and the “Philips” tape recorder, purchased for religious propaganda purposes.
The defendant was also accused of selling religious objects – crucifixes, icons – without authorisation.
When questioned in court (f. 223-224), the accused admitted that he, together with Poițelea Vasile, Măgirescu Costache, Palade Nicolae, Palade Gheorghe and Bălan Grigore, belonged to the group of distributers of mythical-religious materials, that this group continued its activity after 1948, when its licence was withdrawn; that in 1955 he learned of the arrest of Ionescu Jorj, Popa Elena and two others who had been found with religious materials at the Bacău railway station, and that a year later, in 1956, he resumed this activity. He also admitted that he had written the works “Oglinda duhovnicească”, “Izvorul răutăților”, “Tămâie și furturi”, “Diavolul și cârciumarul”, “Pacea părinții cu copii” and others, which were printed by various printers and then distributed personally and through various trusted persons. The defendant showed that he had ordered the purchase of two typewriters, on which Palade Gheorghe had typed his works “Vămile văzduhului”, “Un ciclu de predici”, “Priveliști apocaliptice” and others. The defendant also showed that all the other members of the group regarded him as their boss and that the instructions he gave were carried out in good conditions.
The defendant stated that he was informed by the members of the group about the work they were doing and the earnings they were making. In cross-examination before the Court, the defendant also stated that he had sold icons from 1929 to 1948, but that he had not done so since then.
The defendant’s actions are also mentioned by Poițelea Vasile (c. 80-82), Măgirescu Costache (c. 83-85), Palade Gheorghe (c. 86-87), Bălan Grigore (c. 88-89), Ionescu Jorj (90-91), Popa Elena (92-93), Chiuaru Nicolae (97), Tupu Anica (98), whose statements are corroborated by witnesses:
– Cioată Polina (f. 102), who told the court that in July 1964 she went to the monastery, to Măndiță Nicolae, who gave her the manuscript “Divine Providence”, which she took to the group of distributers in Bucharest;
– Chiriac Elena (f. 104), who stated that she participated in the so-called “Word” meetings and knew that the defendant once held such a meeting.
– Stanciu Maria (f. 105), who stated that she went to the defendant, to the monastery, for confession and that the monastery gave her to write from the “Vămile văzduhului”;
– Maria Sacaliuc (née 106), who stated that she had distributed a number of forbidden religious materials written by the accused;
– Guțea Damian (f. 108), monk of the Cernica monastery, who stated that he had brought to the monastery some 300-400 religious pamphlets written by the defendant, which the abbot of the monastery had told him were forbidden;
– Perju Petre (f. 110 and f. 225) stated that he used to go to the monastery, to the defendant, for confession and that the monastery gave him as a canon to write about 10-12 booklets, i.e. 24 booklets from the “Vămile văzduhului”. He also stated that the defendant had also sold him the work he had written, “The Spiritual Mirror”;
– Moraru Anica (f. 114), knows that her husband Moraru Mandica wrote in notebooks from “The Seas of the Void” and told her that he did this work after having received a canon from Măndiță Nicolae;
– Crăciun Ioan (f. 115), also showed that the defendant gave her as a canon to read religious books written by him. The witness also showed that the defendant told him to hide some religious books so that they would not be discovered by the authorities;
– Ionescu Ana (f. 132) stated that she listened to the instructions given by Măndița Nicolae and the others in his group;
– Maxim Constantin (f. 226) showed that he had been to the monastery several times with his wife, who confessed to the accused. He read the books given to him by the defendant, from which he noted that he should not swear, should not steal, but should love his neighbour;
– Albu Gheorghe (f. 227), in 1964 he bought icons and religious books from the group in Bucharest, among them the booklet “Dai voință iei putere” written by Măndiță Nicolae;
– Plugaru Dumitru (f. 228) read several religious books and pamphlets written by the defendant, including “Oglinda duhovnicească”, and transcribed on several notebooks some parts of the works “Vămile văzduhului” and “Judecata particulară”.
In the light of the evidence in the case file analysed above, the Court finds that the defendant Măndiță Nicolae is responsible for having distributed to religious persons religious books and pamphlets written by him which contained prohibited content.
The court did not find that the defendant had acted without authorisation, since it was established that the religious objects were made by members of the group and sold as part of the group’s peddling activity, and that the defendant had done so until 1948, when the group had legal authorisation.
IN JUSTICE:
The defendant MĂNDIȚĂ NICOLAE was charged with the offence of distributing prohibited publications, art. 325 para. 3 lit. c of the Criminal Code, the constituent elements of which are fulfilled because
– the objective aspect of this offence, since it has been proved that, between 1948 and 1964, the defendant possessed and distributed various prohibited religious books and pamphlets with an anti-social and anti-communist content, most of which he had written himself;
– the subjective aspect of the offence consists in the fact that the defendant committed the offence of possessing and distributing prohibited religious material with intent, because he foresaw the social danger of the consequences of his actions for the security of the State and public peace and intended them to occur.
Having regard to the provisions of Article 25, paragraph 6, subparagraph 2, of the Criminal Code, the Court orders the confiscation of the personal property of the accused, since the act committed endangers the security of the State.
Considering that all the materials found during the search of the defendant’s home and recorded in the minutes of the proceedings were used or intended to be used to commit the offence referred to in Art. 325 para. 3 letter c of the Criminal Code, the Court shall order their confiscation for the benefit of the State pursuant to Article 80 of the Criminal Code.
The defendant was also charged with the offence of speculation under art. 268/17 letter c of the Criminal Code.
Considering that the evidence in the case file shows that the objects of worship – crucifixes and icons – were made by the defendants within the group and without the intention of speculation, and that, as far as the defendant is concerned, he did so until 1948, when the group had legal authorisation, the court will apply article 4, part I, paragraph 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and acquit him of any penalty.
Having regard to the provisions of Articles 320(II) and 200(9) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Court orders the defendant’s arrest, since the penalty prescribed by law for the offence with which he is charged is more than one year.
Pursuant to Article 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused is ordered to pay the State the costs incurred in the investigation and trial of the case.
For these reasons, and in accordance with the conclusions of the military prosecutor, the court unanimously finds the accused guilty: Măndiță Nicolae for the offence of distributing prohibited publications, P.P. art. 325 para. 3 lit. c C.pen. and not guilty for the offence of speculation p.p. of art. 268/17 lit. c C.pen.
Declares unanimously that there are no attenuating circumstances in favour of the accused.
Consequently,
THE COURT
IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE
DECIDES:
Unanimously, pursuant to Article 325(3)(c) of the Criminal Code, sentences MĂNDIȚĂ NICOLAE to 8 (eight) years’ imprisonment for the offence of distributing prohibited publications.
Pursuant to Article 25(6)(2) of the Criminal Code, the full confiscation of the convicted person’s personal property is ordered.
According to Art. 80 C. Penal Code. Orders the confiscation for the benefit of the State of all criminal assets found in the defendant’s home and listed in the record of the proceedings.
Applying Article 4, Part I, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code, acquits Măndiță Nicolae of any penalty for the offence of speculation, as provided for in Article 4, Part I, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code. and pen. By art. 268 ind. 17 lit. c C. pen.
On the basis of art. 320 par. 2 C. pen. Order the arrest of the convicted person.
Pursuant to art. 109 of the Penal Code, ordered him to pay the State 1500 lei in court costs.
The Court then resumed the public session and the President read out the above order.
With the right to appeal within 3 days to the Military Court of the Military Region of Bucharest.
Given and read in open court today, 22 January 1965 at Tg. Neamț.
PRESIDENT
Lieutenant Colonel of Justice
Aldea Matei
SECRETARY,
Bozaș Teodor
(Document published in the magazine Rost, year V, issue 51, May 2007, pp. 20-25)