(purely personal views based on over two decades of research and publications)

related:  https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/transcriptsstenograme-of-the-trial-of-nicolae-and-elena-ceausescu/

From the extraordinary Ujica Farocki “Videograms of a Revolution” (1992).  Starts from 12:09 22 December 1989 and the Flight of the Ceausescus from the Central Committee Building

Nicolae Deca cu Petre Mihai Bacanu, “Ceausescu nu s-a gandit sa fuga din tara,” Romania Libera, 23 decembrie 1993, p. 15.

“Nicolae Ceausescu nu s-a gandit nici o clipa sa fuga din tara, pentru ca elicopterul avea suficient combustibil sa ajunga in Irak sau Iran, locuri care, cred eu, i-ar fi asigurat viata.”

from the 1993 documentary, The Last Day, by Arnaud Hamelin

Why did Ceausescu not intend to flee the country?  Why did he tell Nicolae Deca that he planned to “organize the resistance” in Tirgoviste?

Tirgoviste was one alternate in a longstanding plan…

Mirel Curea, Evenimentul Zilei, nr. 317, 9 iulie 1993, p. 3

Ted Koppel’s ABC News special Death of a Dictator (April 1990) has a good deal of discussion of Nicolae Ceausescu’s famous watch (ceasul lui Ceausescu), which allegedly had a radio-transmitter beacon in it…hence his continuous checking of his watch (as the first speaker below explained, looking at his watch and looking at the sky and looking back again, as if he was waiting for someone or something)…it lasted all the way up through his trial.

The time turned out to be:  the final minutes of his dictatorial regime and life…

Let’s Go to the Videotape (IV) “Instead of denying access to the rest of the tunnels…the authorities now deny their very existence” (Ted Koppel, Bucharest, Romania, March 1990)

Important details of the Ceausescus’ capture, holding, trial, and execution can be found in the following:

Gelu Voican Voiculescu claims that he prevailed upon Ion Iliescu to consider the immediate execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu only after the attacks of 23/24 December 1989, with the memorable phrase:  “Sir, do you want to end up like Allende?”  (cited in this following article from 2000:  https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/theories-of-collective-action-and-revolution-2000/  , see page 1088).

The effort on the night of 24/25 December 1989, to keep Nicolae Ceausescu alive, so that he could be tried and executed, continues to be a matter of dispute:

from Bacescu 1994 above, and Sandulescu 1996 below:

Viorel Domenico Ceausescu la Targoviste (1999) below

Captain Gheorge Bobric’s recounting of Securitate Col. Dinu’s comment, according to which “…notice, those are ABIs [Securitate USLA vehicles]…in ten minutes, firing will begin…The terrorists and anti-terrorists are trained  according to the same principles and rules, they go through the same training.” p. 157

Ceausestii la Tirgoviste, Flacara no. 51 (19 decembrie 1990), pp. 8-10.