Victor Atanasie Stănculescu (born May 10, 1928) was a Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 during the Communist era

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

. He played a central role in the overthrow of the dictatorship by refusing to carry out the orders of Romanian dictator Ceauşescu during the Romanian Revolution of 1989

Romanian Revolution of 1989

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...

. His inaction allowed the citizens demonstrating in Bucharest against the government to seize control.

In 2008, Stănculescu and another general, former Interior Minister Mihai Chiţac

Mihai Chiţac

Mihai Chiţac was a Romanian general and Interior Minister from 1989 to 1990 during the waning days of the Communist era...

, were convicted of aggravated manslaughter

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 by the Supreme Court for the shooting deaths of pro-democracy protesters in Timişoara

Timisoara

Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...

, during the Romanian Revolution of 1989.