The chief of the military tribunal that condemned Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife to death has committed suicide, Justice Minister Teofil Pop announced Friday.
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He told a news conference Maj. Gen. Gica Popa, 57, shot himself in the head with his standard-issue Makharov pistol at 1:15 p.m. Thursday in his Justice Ministry office. The general left a suicide note that asked forgiveness but did not explain the motive for his act, he reported.Pop called the suicide the result of a "very grave depression." But Popa's wife, Eleonora, told The Associated Press her husband had been receiving anonymous threats "beginning with the 25th of December," the date of the Ceausescu trial.