The publication “Glasul Natiunii” (“Nation’s Voice”) was subject to a raider attack by the initiation by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of inspections to determine the legality of the process of privatizing the paper’s head office, editor-in-chief Vasile Nastase said in a news conference at IPN. According to him, such actions were taken by order of the first deputy chairman of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc, who wants thus to exert pressure and intimidate the protest movement led by the Platform “Dignity and Truth”.
Vasile Nastase, who is one of the leaders of the Platform, said that he came into possession of a document by which the Organized and Exceptional Crime Division of the PGO requested the president of the Chisinau Appeals Court to issue it with the civil proceedings concerning the privatization of the head office of “Glasul Natiunii”. The request was made based on an anonymous letter about alleged illegalities committed in the process of transferring the building under the paper’s management.
The journalist noted that a criminal case over this matter was started earlier and the publication won the case in a number of courts. Moreover, this case was also examined by the European Court of Human Rights, which passed judgment in favor of the paper. “Even if there is a definitive and irrevocable court decision, which was appealed, but upheld by the Supreme Court of Justice, and even if this judgment was reviewed and went through all the internal procedures and reached the ECHR and was then sent to the Government for implementation, Plahotniuc is trying at all costs to intimidate and harass me and the whole media outlet that made history by using the PGO as a political cudgel,” stated Vasile Nastase.
Platform member Valentin Dolganiuc said that pressure is being applied to those who have the responsibility of freeing the Republic of Moldova from the oligarchs’ captivity. “For me, it is clear that pressure is being exerted on the protesters and that not only Vasile Nastase, but all the staff of “Glasul Natiunii” and we all – the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets - are affected. They warn us that each of us could one day have such a criminal case,” he stated.
Another Platform member Stanislav Pavlovschi said there are two problems in this case. The first is that they are trying to reduce the publication to silence by using prosecution methods, which is absolutely inadmissible. The second is that the ownership right, which is enshrined in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is being violated.
Platform member Chiril Motpan noted that the governor returned to the idea of raider attacks and this is a bad signal for the mass media in Moldova.
The speakers called on the media outlets and civil society to take attitude to the situation in which the publication is now and also called upon the development partners of Moldova, in particular the EU Delegation and the U.S. Embassy, to devote attention to this case.
