Romania's ex-president Iliescu faces prosecutors over killings at 1990 rally

Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu gestures during a meeting with foreign media in Bucharest May 17, 2007. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's former President Ion Iliescu faced Supreme Court prosecutors at a criminal investigation on Wednesday into the storming of peaceful demonstrations in Bucharest in 1990 by tens of thousands of miners.

In June 1990, a month after the first post-Communist democratic elections, Moscow-educated Iliescu summoned 20,000 coal miners to save his ruling National Salvation Front from what he called a "fascist coup attempt".