The Association of Independent Press (API) protests against the intimidation by Deputy Minister of Defense Alexandru Cimbriciuc of journalist Vadim Sterbate, who works for the newspaper “Observatorul de Nord” (“Northern Observer”), and asks that the functionary should be penalized, IPN reports.
After publishing an article about the kiosks and stalls in Soroca town, whereby Vadim Sterbate raised the problem of constructions that spoil the image of the town, including a kiosk located near the Soroca Fortress that belongs to Alexandru Cimbriciuc Junior - the son of the Deputy Minister of Defense Alexandru Cimbriciuc - the editorial staff and reporters of “Observatorul de Nord” started to be intimidated in different ways. Initially, the given kiosk was transported and placed in front of the paper’s head office. Afterward, the deputy minister of defense requested the Soroca Military Commissariat to check if journalist Vadim Sterbate did his military service.
The API believes that these actions represent revenge taken by a high-ranking official on journalists who ‘dared’ to criticize the economic activities of a member of his family. “Such actions cannot be tolerated in a state with the rule of law that adhered to the European democratic values. The Republic of Moldova does not have the chance to develop democratically as long as the public servants and functionaries consider themselves a special caste for which there are no laws and use their social position in own or family interests,” the Association says in a statement.
On July 14, Deputy Minister of Defense Alexandru Cimbriciuc tendered his resignation. The API considers that the resignation is something normal in this situation, but the intimidation of the mass media for criticism, including by using one’s authority, represents a criminal act. The API calls on Prime Minister Pavel Filip to take attitude to this unordinary case and on acting prosecutor general Eduard Harunjen to order an investigation into this case.
The statement was also signed by other mass media NGOs such as the Independent Journalism Center, the Journalistic Investigations Center, the Association of Electronic Press, the Center “Accces-Info”, the Committee for the Freedom of the Press, the Association of Independent Telejournalists and the Young Journalist’s Center of Moldova.
