Academician Nicolae Dabija, writer, scriptwriter and editor, died in the morning of March 12. He contracted COVID-19 and was being treated at the Emergency Medicine Institute. The information was confirmed for IPN by the Institute’s spokeswoman Dorina Arsene.

Nicolae Dabija was born in Codreni village of Cimișlia district. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the State University of Moldova. He served as a member of the first Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Nicolae Dabija served as the editor-in-chief of the weekly “Literatura şi Arta” (“Literature and Art”) and as the president of the Democratic Forum of Romanians in Moldova. He was a member of the Writers Union and of the Journalists Union of Moldova.

He was conferred multiple awards, prizes and titles of honors, including the Mihai Eminescu Award of the Romanian Academy (1995); the Order of the Republic (1996); the Order of the Star of Romania, the rank of Commander (2000); the Saint George Prize of the International Poetry Festival of Uzdin, Serbia (2005); the Order of Cultural Merit, the rank of Great Officer (2014); the International Poetry Award “Umberto Mastroiani” (2015) etc.