Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice [official website, in Romanian] ruled Monday that an investigation into the country’s 1989 revolution [BBC backgrounder] can reopened. The prosecutor general’s office said in October that the investigation into the events of December 1989, in which 1,104 people were killed, would be classified [AP report], declining to prosecute anyone. Interim prosecutor general Bogdan Licu sought in April to reopen the investigation. The court agreed Monday that the investigation can be reopened [Romania Insider report].

The Romanian revolution brought about the fall on Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. After protests reached the capital, Ceausescu and his wife fled but were eventually caught, tried and executed. The protesters faced violent repression, and more than 1,000 were killed, with many others injured or detained. Many members of the former Communist regime retained their roles in the government, and there has been reluctance to launch a full-scale investigation into the events.