Grigore Vieru | Moldovan poet, 73
Grigore Vieru, 73, a Moldovan poet admired for his courage in promoting Romanian, the country's native language, when Moldova was a Soviet republic, has died.
Grigore Vieru, 73, a Moldovan poet admired for his courage in promoting Romanian, the country's native language, when Moldova was a Soviet republic, has died.
Mr. Vieru died Sunday at a hospital in Chisinau, Moldova's capital. He had been in a car crash there Friday. President Vladimir Voronin declared yesterday a day of national mourning.
Mr. Vieru was born in 1935 in a village in northeastern Romania, five years before that part of the country was annexed by the Soviet Union under a Nazi-Soviet pact, becoming the Socialist Republic of Moldova.
Moldova declared independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Two-thirds of Moldovans are of Romanian descent, but the country has not rejoined Romania.
- AP