Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first freely elected president after Communism, helped bring down the country’s dictatorship and led its transition to democracy and a market economy. A central figure in the 1989 revolution,

On the day of Ion Iliescu’s funeral, the polarizing legacy of Romania’s first elected president after the fall of communism was laid bare.

As a three-term president, he guided the country toward democracy, but he was called an authoritarian at heart and accused of brutality during the revolt that put him in power.