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Mariana Cetiner
(1957 - living) Romania

Mariana Cetiner

Prisoner of conscience

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Mariana, a Romanian woman, was arrested in October 1995 for "attempting to seduce another woman". In June 1996, she was convicted and sentenced under Article 200 of the Romanian Penal Code to three years' imprisonment. Mariana was released in 1998 after international pressure, thank to Amnesty International GLTB.

"I was treated very badly by the prison guards, because in Romania there is no approval for those who have had relations between the same sex. And worse, the guards... beat me and insulted me. Criminals are better regarded than a relationship between two women. So because of this homosexual or lesbian thing, I was treated like the lowest of the low."

In one incident in August 1996, when Mariana Cetiner complained about her ill-treatment, she was handcuffed to a radiator and made to stand for 11 hours "in a position like Jesus Christ" without food. Although acquitted on appeal in January 1997, she was later rearrested when a court of third instance reversed this decision and she was ordered to serve the remainder of the sentence.

Mariana Cetiner was taken to another penitentiary where she was placed in a high security cell for violent detainees and was beaten both by guards and other inmates. She said that in one incident she was left with broken ribs. When she asked to see a doctor she was placed in solitary confinement for 10 days.

Following international pressure, including a sustained campaign of demonstrations and letter-writing by AI members around the world, Mariana Cetiner was released by presidential decree in March 1998. She left Romania shortly afterwards.

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