By MPM
17 June 2019

Radu Mazare pioneered independent journalism in the early days of post-communist Romania. But his excessive craving for fame, wealth and power led to his downfall.

When the weekly Catavencu, a satirical publication named after a character in a play authored by Romania’s celebrated playwright Ion Luca Caragiale, launched its first issue in February 1990, Romanian readers thronged to get a copy. Some most likely picked it from students selling the newspaper in the street.

One of them was Radu Mazare, then a 21-year old student, who could be found shouting his lungs out advertising Catavencu in a downtown area in Bucharest, the Romanian capital city.

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