Florin Mihail Filipoiu (born 15 January 1958) is a Romanian physician and academic, known for his role in the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

Early life and career

Filipoiu was born on 15 January 1958. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Carol Davila University in 1984, specializing in radiology. Filipoiu received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 2000 and, since 2013, he is a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

at the Faculty of Medicine of the Carol Davila University, as well as the head of the Anatomy Department of the Faculty. He is also the prodean of the Faculty.

Role in the Romanian Revolution

On the morning of 21 December 1989, Florin Filipoiu was driving his car on the road from

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...

, where he worked at the Municipal Hospital, to Bucharest, where he was a trainer at the Department of Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine, he listened to the radio speech of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

. He arrived in Bucharest at noon and stopped at the Roman Square, where the first group of anti-Ceausescu demonstrators formed. There were about 15 students and one worker from the 23 August Factory. Filipoiu joined them. When the night came, the communist regime's law enforcement began firing weapons at protesters. The protesters managed to barricade themselves in front of the

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, from which they had to flee. Many were shot, clubbed to death, stabbed and crushed by armoured vehicles, but Filipoiu survived, and managed to escape to his apartment. Arriving home, he took the phone book and started calling people from all counties to tell them that the revolution had begun. On 22 December, after the revolutionaries took control of

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, Filipoiu gave a speech in which he called for, among other things, the abolition of the cult of personality, the release of political prisoners, free elections and free press. In an interview for Adevarul in 2010, Filipoiu said that Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front "confiscated" the revolution to take power.

Controversies

In July 2017, several professors at the Carol Davila University were accused of bribery. He was acquitted in August the same year. While Filipoiu was investigated, journalist Dorin Chioțea, who is a physician by training and who was also Filipoiu's student, published an article defending Filipoiu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filipoiu, Florin 1958 births Living people 20th-century Romanian physicians 21st-century Romanian physicians Academic staff of the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy alumni People of the Romanian revolution Romanian anatomists Romanian anti-communists Romanian democracy activists Romanian male non-fiction writers Romanian radiologists Romanian revolutionaries