Abstract
This article provides a comparative account of two criminal trials that addressed the role played by the National Peasant Party (PNŢ) in national history. The focus is on the ability of legal trials to construct historical narratives. The first was conducted in 1947 by the newly-established communist regime and resulted in the legal ban of the party. In 2015, the narrative was entirely reversed in court. The PNŢ was presented as a fully democratic actor. Alexandru Vişinescu—a former commandant of the Râmnicu-Sărat prison where prominent party leaders were subjected to repression—was sentenced for crimes against humanity. The sharp differences between these two legal proceedings—a Soviet-style show trial versus legal action that was oriented to providing some redress for the victims of communism—is emphasized. But the conclusion is that criminal trials in general fall short in providing historical lessons and that retrospective justice does not necessarily produce reconciliation or accountability.
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