The casket carrying the body of Ion Iliescu, Romania's first elected president after the bloody fall of communism in 1989, was transferred on Wednesday from the hospital where he died to the capital's presidential palace for a state funeral as the late leader's death continues to divide opinion.

Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first freely elected president after the fall of communism in 1989, who later faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody revolution, has died.

As a three-term president, he guided the country toward democracy, but he was called an authoritarian at heart and accused of brutality during the revolt that put him in power.