Bribes for milder form of arrest

The young men who beat and shot with a gun at a family in Sangera town one month ago are now under house arrest, a rather mild form of sanction, after their parents gave €2,000 for each in bribe to the judges, said Tudor Ciorap, a human rights activist, at a news conference on Tuesday. 30-day arrest warrants were issued for three of them, as the fourth has been on the run. Recently, the Chisinau Court of Appeals changed the detention measure to house arrest. Ala Ivasico, the woman who suffered in the attack, says that the investigator, Igor Bolocan, has failed to interrogate any of the 12 witnesses. The police also have failed to hear one man allegedly beaten by the suspects. Ala Ivasico also said that their family was proposed €1,000 to hush up the case. After the offer was refused, the Ivasicos were threatened that their sheep yard would be burned. Their two sons, one aged 7 years and the other one 10 months, are now in hospital following the attack. The case happened on July 27 at a bar in Singera town, where the young men, ages 19 and 21, stopped to have a drink. After having a few, the youths started a fight with another man, which prompted the lady owner, Ala Ivasico, to come out of her house, baby on hands, and intervene. The men started to fight with the women and even struck her twice with a truncheon, chasing her to the house, where the woman hoped to take refuge. The woman's screams were heard by her husband and the older son, and that made the troublemakers hesitate for a moment, until they took a shotgun out of their van which was parked nearby. Then one of them fired twice at the family. Happily, no one got shot. After that, the youths got into the van and fled the scene. Hours later, the police identified and arrested the suspects. During a subsequent search, the police found two hunting guns, ammunition and other hunting equipment, all possessed without authorization.