After four years of litigation, demonstrations, protests and political tug-of-war, the Orthodox concrete crosses and the Romanian monument were "cleaned" from the Úzvölgy cemetery.

Uzvalley! It was demolished! They took it! - announced Sándor Tamás, the president of the Kovászna County Assembly, in his Facebook post on Thursday, and attached a photo to the post, which proves that the illegally erected crosses are no longer there in the cemetery.

Sándor Birtalan, the mayor of Csíkszentmárton, personally went to the scene on Thursday to make sure of the change, after which he confirmed the news. "We checked the site, the crosses, the monument, the flag holders are cleaned," the foreman told MTI. He believed that this concluded the process, that the final court decision was implemented.

According to Sándor Birtalan, by the time they arrived, there was no one at the site, so he could not be sure that the illegal constructions were removed by the municipality of Dormánfalva (Darmanesti) that erected them. He believed that no one else would have dared to intervene, moreover, traces of machinery were also visible, the demolition could have taken several hours, so it was them, he assumed. "If it was Dormánfalva, then it complied with the word of the law," assessed the head of the RMDSZ.

Hargita County Council Chairman Csaba Borboly also reported on the removal of the illegally erected concrete crosses on his social media page. He said he was notified of the development by the fire chief in Kaszon.

"Finally, the municipality of Dormánfalva realized that this cannot go on like this, they must act according to the final judgment, and today they removed the previously illegally erected concrete structures"

- said Csaba Borboly in a statement sent to MTI. He also mentioned that he had received several threats in the past period because he tried to settle the situation in Úzvölgy.

The mayor's office of Dormánfalva was obliged by a final court ruling to tear down the crosses and restore the cemetery to its original state. In its judgment of February 10, 2023, the Bákó District Court confirmed the basic judgment in the case, invalidated the construction permit for the Romanian plot of the cemetery, and ordered the demolition of the illegal structure.

On February 25, 2023, another Úzvölgy lawsuit was won: the Bákó County Court rescinded Dormánfalva's ownership right over the cemetery.

It confirmed the basic judgment, which invalidated the decision of the self-governing body of the Moldavian city, which declared the military cemetery in Úzvölgy to be public property of the city. After that, he registered the 7,979 square meter area of ​​the cemetery in his own name.

In March 2019, the municipality of Dormánfalva declared the Úzvölgy military cemetery as its own public property, and in April arbitrarily created a Romanian plot in the cemetery of the depopulated Úzvölgye settlement on the border of Hargita and Bákó counties. Previously, the cemetery was cared for by the village of Csíkszentmárton in Székelyföld, and the Hungarian community considered it a Hungarian military cemetery.

On June 6, 2019, thousands of Romanian commemorators forced their way into the cemetery to take part in the Romanian Orthodox consecration of the Romanian plot and monument, after Szeklers tried to prevent it with a live chain. A week after the violent acts, the competent Romanian authority clarified that the 149 Romanian soldiers whose names were read out were not buried in the Úzvölgy military cemetery, whose names were also part of the ceremony after the cemetery's violent occupation.

After the final verdicts in February, Mihai Tarnoveanu, the head of the Calea Neamului organization, which laid wreaths several times at the concrete crosses of the Úzvölgy cemetery, announced: if necessary, they will protect them with their bodies, and claimed that the leadership of Dormánfalva will challenge the final court decision on their removal in the supreme court. On Thursday afternoon, he reacted to what happened on his social media page as follows:

"Tonight, they secretly demolished the Crosses of Romanian Heroes in Úzvölgy! The fight is only really beginning now. Our heroes will not be left without a cross! I'm on my way to Úzvölgy."

On Thursday afternoon, on his social media page, Csaba Borboly appealed to the population of the region not to go to the Úzvölgy military cemetery on Thursday and in the coming days. "I was informed that they are preparing for another provocation. Let's not give them a reason for the circus. Let the organs do their work. The sentence must be carried out. No one should go to Úzvölgy today," the council president wrote.

Ziaruldebacau.ro, the Romanian portal of Bákó County, reported on Thursday that the removal of the concrete crosses was ordered by Constantin Toma, the mayor of Dormánfalva, after he lost all lawsuits. As it was written, the team sent to Úzvölgye by the Moldavian superior began dismantling the concrete crosses at night and finished by Thursday morning. According to the portal, the memorial will be erected in Dormánfalva, and the concrete crosses will be placed in the military cemetery in Bákó.

Civilek.info / MTI

Photo: Press service of the Hargita County Council