Cazul inginerului Ursu

“This is a film about Andrei Ursu and his fight for justice in the name of his father. Who else had Andrei’s tenacity and strength, his courage to risk his life twice by going on hunger strike in an attempt to force the authorities to stop obstructing him? I don’t know if there is another comparable case in the world. In our country, he is certainly unique, and his value as a human model and moral landmark is remarkable in our desolate social landscape, and all the more necessary.”
Liviu Tofan

Logline:
For over 30 years, Andrei Ursu has been fighting to expose the truth about his father’s death. Gheorghe Ursu was killed in the custody of the Securitate, after denouncing Ceaușescu’s decision to stop the consolidation of the buildings affected by the ’77 earthquake.

Directed by Liviu Tofan and Șerban Georgescu, the case of engineer Ursu is a shocking documentary about the search for justice.

Synopsis
March 4, 1977. A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Romania, leaving a trail of destruction: a death toll of more than 1,500; dozens of buildings collapsed and thousands more damaged. In the aftermath of the disaster, the communist state starts coordinating efforts to evaluate and consolidate the damaged buildings.

Exactly 4 months later, Ceaușescu summons all the players involved in the reconstruction effort: engineers, architects, local authorities. He specifically forbids them to pursue any projects connected with the consolidation work, and threatens to throw in jail anyone failing to comply.

Also attending the meeting is engineer Gheorghe Ursu, the only man who will denounce this criminal order of the dictator, in an anonymous letter sent to and broadcast by Radio Free Europe. He will pay for this with his life, as the Securitate officers torture and eventually kill him.

Following the collapse of the communist regime in December 1989, Andrei Ursu, son of engineer Gheorghe Ursu, seeks justice by bringing to trial the two officers responsible for his father’s death.
Despite the meticulously constructed case, in 2023 the defendants were definitively acquitted by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the film remaining the only form of justice and recognition in the case of the dissident Gheorghe Ursu.