The former president of Romania has died at the age of 95.

In 1989, after the communist regime was overthrown, Romania's first democratically elected president, Ion Iliescu, passed away at the age of 95.

He had been hospitalized in June with a diagnosis of lung cancer.

Iliescu was elected president three times and in 2004 signed agreements to join NATO and associate with the European Union.

In 2017, he was accused of crimes against humanity for suppressing protest demonstrations in 1989–1990.