Virgil Ierunca (born Virgil Untaru) was a Romanian literary critic, journalist, and poet, known for his anti-communist activism. Born in 1920, Ierunca fled Romania in 1946 and settled in France, where he became a prominent voice against the Communist regime. He and his wife, Monica Lovinescu, were influential figures in Romanian exile, working for Radio Free Europe for several decades, where they voiced opposition to the regime’s oppression and human rights abuses.

Ierunca’s most notable work, Fenomenul Pitești, is a critical account of the atrocities committed during the Pitești prison experiments, which aimed to “reeducate” political prisoners through systematic torture. His lifelong dedication to exposing the horrors of totalitarianism earned him high respect in Romanian intellectual circles, and he remained a staunch defender of freedom and democratic values until his death in 2006.