The prisons of the totalitarian regime are not only blood-stained points on a map of suffering, but places where the Securitate systematically attempted to destroy Romanian consciousness, President Nicusor Dan said.

In a post on his Facebook page on Monday, the head of state sent a message on the Day of the Anti-Communist Political Prisoners, marked every year on 9 March, which 'reminds us of the courage of those who faced the abuses of the communist regime, turning suffering into the highest act of dignity.'

'The heroes, who have become symbols of national resistance, showed that the human spirit can remain free even behind the thickest prison walls. We have the civic and moral duty to protect the truth about the past, not only as a gesture of respect and gratitude for those who endured terrible horrors in prisons, but also in order to understand how vulnerable freedom is and how quickly it can be lost when a dictatorship comes to power. The prisons of the totalitarian regime are not only blood-stained points on a map of suffering, but places where the Securitate systematically attempted to destroy Romanian consciousness. It failed because our fellow citizens resisted terror and refused compromise,' the president wrote on his social media page.

He said that 'for the younger generations, communism may seem like a distant page of history,' but 'that is precisely why it is important to keep alive the memory of those who passed through the prisons of the system because they did not renounce their convictions.'

'The freedom and fundamental rights that today we find natural also rest on the sacrifice of these people who, even in the harshest conditions, chose not to give in and to preserve their dignity and their values intact. May the memory of the anti-communist martyrs guide us, and may their courage remain forever the unshakeable foundation on which our free society will prosper,' Nicusor Dan also said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Andreea Rotaru; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)