Petition against torture

Passersby in Chisinau were asked today to put their signatures to a petition against torture as part of an action staged by the civil society in front of the Organ Hall. Human rights expert of Promo Lex Association Doina Ioana Straisteanu told Info-Prim Neo that similar actions were organized earlier, but were not taken account of. Now they have an additional reason to hold such an event – the April 7, 2009 protests. “Those who had been directly or indirectly involved in the acts of torture and illegal arrests must be investigated. The persons who were detained and maltreated must receive compensations. They deserve official apologies as they were mistreated unfairly,” Doina Ioana Straisteanu said. The authorities must support the investigation and continue to suspend from posts the police officers, prosecutors, judges, medical examiners and lawyers who did not take measures to stop the maltreatment of the arrested persons at that time, the lawyer also said. The organizer of the event - Amnesty International Moldova - plans to collect about 1,000 signatures and submit them to the Government, the Parliament and the President.