For information on the treatment of Pentecostals during Ceausescu's regime, please refer to attached information requests (Nos. ROM1381 and ROM3360).

As stated in response number ROM1381, the Pentecostal religion appears to have been one of the 14 recognized religions in Romania during Ceausescu's regime. Pentecostals therefore did not suffer the type of treatment given those denominations considered to have interests hostile to the state.

Nicolae Ceausescu maintained tight state control on religion and according to the IRBDC's Country Profile: Romania, the government also restricted religious freedom indirectly through administrative measures; it controlled admissions to seminaries, the construction of churches and the distribution of religious materials. Vocal advocates of change are reported to have faced surveillance, loss of jobs and arrests. The country profile also summarizes the Communist Party's view of religion: in his statement to the RCP Congress of 1977, Ceausescu stated "backwardness, superstition and religion had no place within the ideal of Communist Society" (IRBDC, 1990).

Although detailed information on the treatment of adherents to the Pentecostal religion is not available to the IRBDC at this time, it is apparent that the December revolution has had a strong impact on the freedom of religion in Romania.

Kent Hill, executive director of the Washington based Institute of Religion in Democracy, which promotes democratic change and religious freedom, states that the results of his fact-finding mission to Romania show that "religious believers are considerably better off since the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu" (Witham 15 June 1990, B5).

A promising change in Romania's religious policy is the granting of legal status to the Evangelical Alliance as well as to the Jehovah's Witnesses who, according to a New York based group, had been "repressed for decades" (Jehovah's Witnesses, 5 May 1990). Other examples of the religious freedoms which followed the December revolution include the right to re-establish monastaries closed by the Communists in 1962 and to provide religious instruction in state schools (Borrell, 12 Nov. 1990). An article in Report on Eastern Europe states that this is a time of relaxation in relations between the state and Romania's religious denominations. On 19 January 1990, the Department for Religious Affairs, the Communist's instrument of control over the religious life of the country, was replaced by a Ministry of Religious Affairs. The report goes on to state that it can now be assumed that the state will try to "reduce its interference in religious matters to a minimum and to establish good relations with all religious communities" (Ionescu, 9 March 1990). It seems evident that since the December revolution and the end of Ceausescu's regime, Romania is more tolerant of various religious beliefs and of the right to freedom of religion.

Borrell, John. "A Monastery Returns to Life: Romania's Churches Recover from an Era of Repression." Time, 12 November 1990

Ionescu, Dan. "Crisis in the Romanian Orthodox Church." RFE/RL Report on Eastern Europe, 9 March 1990.

Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation Centre (IRBDC). Romania: Country Profile. IRBDC, July 1990.

Jehovah's Witnesses Legalized in Romania." Los Angeles Times, 5 May 1990.

Witham, Larry. "Religion Faces Many Road Blocks in East." The Washington Times, 15 June 1990.
For further information, please find attached Information Request No. ROM1381, 4 July 1989 and No. ROM3360, 28 December 1989.