Rimaru - Butcher of Bucharest (Paperback)

In September 1971 Ion Rimaru stood trial for the murder of several women. The indictment accused him of committing 23 very serious offences over a period of one year from May 1970 to May 1971: murders committed in extremely aggravated circumstances, with cruelty, with premeditation, with bestiality and sadism in four cases; attempted murders in six cases; rapes and attempted rapes; theft from the public and private property. Rimaru - Butcher of Bucharest is a factual account of the crimes committed by Ion Rimaru, their social environment, their impact on the culture of their times, and their lingering legacy in the present day. The authors, Mike Phillips and Stejarel Olaru, have had unprecedented access to police and secret police records about the case, including the testimonies of the killer and his family. They have also conducted interviews with various people connected with the case, and studied the surviving mountain of statements. The social context, however, and what it tells us about Romanian society at the time and in the present day makes this a remarkable, uneasy and illuminating story. "May 1971. After I went for a walk down a boulevard I passed the National Theatre building site and then got into another boulevard and then went into a side street where I approached a woman and I attacked her with a metal rod and a knife. I hit her with the metal rod with spiral grooves. I hit her some three times. Because she was screaming I slashed her neck with the knife that is presented to me here in the court. The victim collapsed in the street and then I dragged her into a courtyard and had sexual relations with her." (Ion Rimaru - statement to the police after arrest)