 The Ceauşescu couple fled Bucharest by helicopter but ended up in the custody of the army.After being tried and convicted by a kangaroo court for genocide and other crimes, they were executed on 25 December 1989.Ion Iliescu, a former Communist Party official marginalized by Ceauşescu, attained national recognition as the leader of an impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN) that proclaimed the establishment of democracy and civil liberties on 22 December 1989.