Ion Pistol was a Romanian convicted murderer, the last person put to death in what was then the Socialist Republic of Romania prior to the execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. He was tried for murder on 9 April 1986, before a 500-person auditorium. His lawyer, Liviu Ardeiaș, claimed that sentencing him to death would result "not in execution, but in murder". The same day, the Teleorman County tribunal handed down a death sentence. On 4 May 1987, Ceaușescu rejected his plea for clemency. Eight days later, he was executed by shooting at a prison in the Bucharest area.