A photo exhibition was organized near the statue of Stefan cel Mare on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The photos were shot in several countries by Amnesty International. “Reforms cost millions, but it doesn’t cost anything to give up torture”, the executive of Amnesty International Moldova Cristina Pereteatcu told Info-Prim Neo. The event started with a flash-mob: participants pulled up a ribbon symbolizing barbed wire and cut it. The action was meant to bring to society’s notice the need to eliminate torture from force and law institutions. Amnesty International Moldova began a campaign of collecting signatures in this regard. The petition will be presented to the Speaker, the Minister of the Interior and the prosecutor general. The Minister of Justice Alexandru Tanase attended the event and said torture didn’t refer only to physical abuse, but to detention conditions and inhumane treatment as well. “Unfortunately, cases of torture happen in commissariats, but this shouldn’t be a method to obtain evidence”, he stressed. Tanase said the commissariats were not the institutions supposed to fight crimes and state organs’ actions should respect the law. Both international and local structures are interested to protect human rights and fight such phenomena as torture, according to MoI representative Valeriu Cerba. On UN recommendations, the Ministry of the Interior elaborated a plan to fight torture. Moreover, at the Police Academy the number of classes about the destructive effect of torture was doubled. In 1997, the UN General Assembly declared June 26 the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. This was meant to eradicate torture and to put into effect the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.