Members of the Society of the Blind of Moldova protested in front of the Government Building on May 8, asking the authorities to help them solve the conflict between them and the organization's chairman Dumitru Sclifos. They accuse him of illegally depriving them of apartments. At the same time, Dumitru Sclifos says the protests are aimed at discrediting him before the Society's congress, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valentin Fediuc, lawyer for the Protiuc family, said the family has been in litigation with the Society of the Blind for a long time. Overt 5 million lei was allocated in 2005 from the state budget for repairing or building apartments for persons with visual impairments. International organizations also donated money for the propose. “Apartments were built in a number of settlements, but they were distributed arbitrarily. This was the responsibility of the administration of the Society of the Blind, namely its chairman Dumitru Sclifos,” Valentin Fediuc said. The lawyer said Sclifos gave the apartment intended for the Protiuc family to another person for no reason. Natalia Protiuc said that they rented an apartment in Balti, but had to come to Chisinau as their sick daughter needs medical treatment. The woman said she was fired from the Society of the Blind. Another protester, Vitalie Mursa said he was also deprived of the apartment, but does not know why. He said he asked for explanations from Dumitru Sclifos, but did not obtain them. Vitalie works as a carpenter and lives together with his wife and 11-month child in a rented room for which he pays €50 a month. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Dumitru Sclifos said only seven apartments have been bought in Balti with the money collected for the persons with visual impairments, but the Protiuc family was the eighth. “I did not deal with the distribution of the apartments. They were shared by the Balti authorities and the international organizations that contributed money,” he said, adding that the protesters aimed to damage his image.