PRESS COMMUNIQUE
( May 22nd, 2005 )

The President of Romania , Traian Basescu , has made today, May 22nd, a press statement regarding the release of the four citizens abducted in Iraq , in Baghdad , on March 28th.
We present the complete press statement by President Traian Basescu :

    “Good afternoon, I am happy to see you again.

    Good news at last. Today at 13:44 the three Romanian citizens and their guide have been delivered to the authority of the Romanian Embassy. The Romanian authorities have taken over the custody of the Romanian citizens and are guaranteeing their security until their return home. I would like to thank, firstly the families of those who have been hostages for 55 days, for their decency and elegance in public behaviour . Thank you very much. Their behaviour has been an important component of the quietness that had been needed for those having the mission and obligation to try and bring the three Romanian citizens and their companion back home.

    I would like to address special thanks to the intelligence services of the Romanian state. It has been an operation one hundred percent carried out by the Romanian intelligence, in an excellent cooperation between the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Romanian Secret Service and the Direction for Intelligence of the Army.

    I would also like to thank the anti-terrorist group seconded to Baghdad and the militaries in the troupes from Talil , that have been moved to Baghdad over the past days in order to prepare the taking over of the Romanian hostages. I also thank the prosecutor and the investigation officers that have fulfilled their mission in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, in investigating the way in which the three Romanian citizens and the American citizen had been kidnapped and detained.

    Last, but not least, I would like to thank the press, which, as soon as I launched an appeal to be supported by a balanced attitude has reacted positively. I also thank the political analysts that have taken to support the endeavour of the authorities of the Romanian state, for not hindering this effort by creating a distorted image.

    The three Romanian citizens will arrive in Bucharest tomorrow. A “Hercules” plane of the Ministry of National Defense has taken off today at 16:30 and will arrive in Baghdad at about 21:00 , Romanian time, respectively 22:00 Iraqi time. Taking into account the special risks of transport during the night from the Embassy to the Baghdad airport, I decided that this transfer should be done tomorrow under the escort of the Anti-terrorist group of the Romanian Intelligence Service and with the support of our American allies.

    In order to avoid all speculations, I can assure you that the Romanian state has treated this case with responsibility for the national interest and with responsibility for every citizen of Romania . This means that the Romanian state has not negotiated its present and future foreign policy and has not paid a ransom for the journalists. The payment of ransom money would have meant that the next day every Romanian citizen would have been in danger all over the world.

    I assure you that the file of the recuperation of the three Romanian citizens and their companion is an extremely complicated one, a file that has triggered the maximal involvement by the Romanian state in order to protect its citizens.

    I once again thank the structures that have succeeded in proving that the Romanian state can protect its citizens irrespective of the circumstances.

    I owe you one more explanation, in order to avoid any shadow or possibility of speculating. Very many people have said that it was not the President who was supposed to lead the crisis unit, which triggered many more speculations. I would like you to know that I am a person assuming his responsibilities, and according to the law, the only direct head of the intelligence services is the President of Romania. Under these circumstances any delegation would have only meant an attempt to shift the responsibility elsewhere. I can tell you that by the coordination and by assuming every day decisions by the President on grounds of information received from the three intelligence services cooperating in the case – SIE, SRI and the Direction for Intelligence of the Army – the correct decision has been constantly ensured.

    And again in order to avoid all speculations, in a broadcast on Thursday I did not exclude the possibility of a tragic outcome. It was no other message and did not mean to increase public tension, but it was the effect of an evidence-photograph that I had received and in which Marie Jeanne was wearing Munaf's T-shirt. The photo was picturing only three prisoners, the fourth, Munaf , was not there and as Marie Jeanne was wearing his T-shirt lead us to believe that it was not out of question to witness a sign by which we were conveyed a capital decision for one of the four.

    The reasons for which we have constantly talked about the three Romanian citizens are reasons that are part of the negotiation structure of the case. On this occasion I would like to thank all foreign intelligence services that had been confronted with such cases and which, from day one, have conveyed to us all their experience. I can tell you that by gathering information we found that almost no case matched another and this case is not the copy of another either.

    I would not like to give way to interpretations. The prosecutor and the two investigation officers of the Ministry of Interior that are now in Baghdad are not there for the Romanian citizens. Within our cooperation and as of the conveyed information, Iraqi authorities have made arrests in certain groups, and we have wanted to have the statements of the arrested taken legally, to the benefit of the General Parquet, as we had received previous statements by the pattern and practice of Iraqi institutions and we wanted to have the statements of the suspects in the kidnapping in a pattern valid for Romanian courts.

One last thing. I am counting on the fact that over the days to come you will show discretion. The operation is not concluded from the point of view of our services, it is concluded only from the point of view of recuperating the citizens.

    I would like to thank the Arab community in Romania, which has made all efforts for establishing an acceptable environment for negotiations and recuperation attempts, and last but not least, we thank the American authorities in Iraq that will ensure the safe transport of the three Romanian citizens to the Baghdad airport in the course of tomorrow, alongside the anti-terrorist unit of the Romanian Intelligence Service.

    The case is not closed. As soon as we will conclude the case, I can assure you that I will call a press conference to make public all information that can be made public.

    I conclude by launching an appeal to discretion and to the decrease of the volume of speculations. You have received the information that could be released. We believe that in about two weeks I will be in a position to present you the exact film of the abduction.
    I might say things that you will not like, I might have asked things that do not satisfy the press and I am sure of that. You are free to do as you wish; I am just launching an appeal to grant us two more weeks in order not to put the lives of those who have contributed to saving those who will arrive tomorrow at stake.

    Thank you very much!”