Writer and dissident Paul Goma died in Paris of COVID-19

"Following a message received from France, with regret and great pain, I announce the departure of the great writer and dissident Paul Goma, on the night of March 24 to 25, 2020. Paul Goma was admitted from March 18 to the hospital La Pitié Salpêtrière, following finding the infection with the killer virus. According to the information provided by the medical team that cared for him, Paul Goma left calmly, without pain and with a reconciled soul", Mariana Sipoş says in the text sent to MEDIAFAX.

The writer's son, Filip Goma, who lost his father two years after his mother's death, asked the press and the public not to contact him.

"According to Filip Goma's instructions, respecting his father's wish and taking into account the current restrictions in force in France, Paul Goma's body will be cremated and the funeral urn will be deposited in the Columbarium, at the Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris", Mariana Sipoş adds.

"I was friend with Paul Goma, I am the only one who has visited him in recent years. I made TV shows and a documentary film about him («Strict secret: Paul Goma»), I wrote the first book dedicated to him («The destiny of a dissident: Paul Goma»), I made sure to publish his last book in Romania at the end of last year («Paul Goma: Where did I go wrong?»), Mariana Sipoş explained for MEDIAFAX.

Paul Goma was born in Mana, Orhei, in 1935. After the surrender of Basarabia to the former U.R.S.S., his family took refuge in Romania. In 1977 he sent a letter of solidarity with Charta 77 from Czechoslovakia and an open letter to Nicolae Ceauşescu. He was investigated by the Security and arrested, but released at Amnesty International's insistence.

In November 1977, Paul Goma, his wife and son woke up to being withdrawn the Romanian citizenship. They asked for political asylum in Paris. He debuted as a writer with the volume "The Chamber next door", in 1968. The novel "Ostinato", 1971, was censored by the communist authorities and from that moment, Goma faced prohibitions of signature, investigations and house arrest. His novels remain unmistakable in Romanian literature, and Goma continued to write in Romanian after settling in Paris. Romania failed to resolve Paul Goma's situation even at three decades after the fall of communism.

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